BEIJING, Nov 8 (Bernama) — Malaysia has expressed support for China’s initiatives to advance the process of taking concrete actions towards the realisation of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) in a comprehensive and systematic manner.
As a middle-income economy, Malaysia has enjoyed the benefits brought about by APEC initiatives in addressing the middle-income trap and pushing economies to achieve higher income status, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
The FTAAP would provide an open market to the nations within the APEC region, including small countries like Malaysia, which has benefited from its technical assistance and capacity building programmes, as well as sharing of best practices among economies, he said.
“It is good for our country’s exports and imports, although there will be some losers in the short term, but it will increase the competitiveness in our country and bring long-term benefits,” he said, adding they have enabled Malaysia to undertake its own trade and investment liberalisation initiatives and at the same time benefit from the liberalisation of other APEC members.
Mustapa was speaking to Malaysian journalists before meeting some 50 Malaysians who are residing here as wella as students in conjunction with the 26th APEC Ministerial Meeting held in Beijing on Saturday.
Mustapa, who arrived here on Nov 7, has met his counterparts from Indonesia, Hongkong, Russia, Japan, Taipei and Asean countries to discuss trade issues.
He also pointed out that Malaysia fully supports the Beijing Roadmap for APEC’s Contribution to the Realisation of an FTAAP.
“We welcome the collective strategic study on FTAAP and are committed to cooperating in its work,” he said, citing Malaysia’s elimination of import tariffs on almost 65 per cent of its tariff lines.
“Our average tariff now stands at 5.6 per cent. We have also undertaken autonomous services and investment liberalisation,” he added.
As the chair of Asean next year, Malaysia looks forward to leading initiatives towards deepening regional economic integration, he added.
On the APEC meeting, he said the ministers had discussed APEC’s achievements in the past 25 years, including the challenges and opportunities for regional economic cooperation in the coming years.
He stressed the need for APEC to improve the implementation of the various measures agreed to among the economies and to remain as a constructive forum to exchange best practices among members.
As a middle-income economy, Malaysia has enjoyed the benefits brought about by APEC initiatives in addressing the middle-income trap and pushing economies to achieve higher income status, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
The FTAAP would provide an open market to the nations within the APEC region, including small countries like Malaysia, which has benefited from its technical assistance and capacity building programmes, as well as sharing of best practices among economies, he said.
“It is good for our country’s exports and imports, although there will be some losers in the short term, but it will increase the competitiveness in our country and bring long-term benefits,” he said, adding they have enabled Malaysia to undertake its own trade and investment liberalisation initiatives and at the same time benefit from the liberalisation of other APEC members.
Mustapa was speaking to Malaysian journalists before meeting some 50 Malaysians who are residing here as wella as students in conjunction with the 26th APEC Ministerial Meeting held in Beijing on Saturday.
Mustapa, who arrived here on Nov 7, has met his counterparts from Indonesia, Hongkong, Russia, Japan, Taipei and Asean countries to discuss trade issues.
He also pointed out that Malaysia fully supports the Beijing Roadmap for APEC’s Contribution to the Realisation of an FTAAP.
“We welcome the collective strategic study on FTAAP and are committed to cooperating in its work,” he said, citing Malaysia’s elimination of import tariffs on almost 65 per cent of its tariff lines.
“Our average tariff now stands at 5.6 per cent. We have also undertaken autonomous services and investment liberalisation,” he added.
As the chair of Asean next year, Malaysia looks forward to leading initiatives towards deepening regional economic integration, he added.
On the APEC meeting, he said the ministers had discussed APEC’s achievements in the past 25 years, including the challenges and opportunities for regional economic cooperation in the coming years.
He stressed the need for APEC to improve the implementation of the various measures agreed to among the economies and to remain as a constructive forum to exchange best practices among members.