KUALA LUMPUR: Local companies, both big and small, need to “up their game” and gear up for competition with the upcoming Asean Economic Community (AEC) this year. “With the market liberalisation, we’re talking about an economic community,” said International Trade and Industry Ministry Asean Economic Cooperation division senior director P Ravidran at a media roundtable yesterday on the impact of the Asean Free Trade Area on the commercial vehicle and logistics industry. “The Government has put in place movements to remove barriers to trade, so it’s up to the private sector to take advantage and adjust their business models.” He added that local companies could not just rely on the domestic market for growth. “You have to export and with the removal of barriers to trade, it’s not just for the big companies to benefit, but also small and medium-sized enterprises.” According to reports, the 10-member Asean has completed over 83% or 366 out of 436 economic...

JAIPUR (Rajasthan), Jan 16 (Bernama) — International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed met Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed the strong bilateral ties between the two nations. Among others, India requested Malaysia, which is the current chair of Asean, to take up a more proactive role in the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact. Mustapa said Malaysia considered the conclusion of the RCEP negotiations as one of the deliverables during Putrajaya’s chairmanship of the 10-member grouping. There are ample political will to conclude the negotiations, he said during the 15-minutes meeting held on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry Partnership Summit 2015 here today. RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement, which involves the 10 members of Asean and six other nations namely Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. The negotiations for RCEP,...

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 (Bernama) — Malaysia’s participation at this year World Economic Forum (WEF) reflects its commitment to shape the global trade agenda, and lead conversations on Asean economic integration, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said. “This is an important year for Malaysia and as Chair of Asean, we must be in the forefront in ensuring the realisation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC). “We must take the opportunity to engage the international business community and civil society and lead by example,” he said in a statement Friday. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will be attending the two-day forum from Jan 23 in Davos, Switzerland. Najib, who is also Finance Minister, will be accompanied by Mustapa and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Wahid Omar. The delegation also includes several prominent Malaysian business leaders as well as heads of investment-related agencies. One of the...

AIPUR (Rajasthan), Jan 16 (Bernama) — The northern Indian state of Rajasthan has an ambitious plan to build a 20,000 km road network and wants Malaysian firms to participate in the projects. The plan, to be executed through public-private partnership (PPP) mode, was announced during the state’s 2014-15 Budget. The first phase of 29 packages will comprise of 8,910 km or 132 highways. “We are really keen to have the investments from Malaysia,” Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said during her bilateral meeting with Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit 2015 here today. Also present at the 10-minute meeting was Malaysian High Commissioner Datuk Naimun Ashakali Mohammad. Vasundhara, who expressed hope the venture would pave the way for many fruitful relationships, also invited Malaysia to be a partner country for the state’s largest investor meet, Resurgent...

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 21 (Bernama) — YAB Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia will be leading the Malaysian delegation to the Annual Meeting of the WEF which will be held in Davos, Switzerland from 21 until 24 January 2015.YAB Prime Minister will be accompanied by YABhg. Datin Sri Rosmah Mansor; YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry; YB Senator Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Department and senior officials from the various Ministries and agencies. The high-level delegation will also include the participation of Malaysia’s corporate leaders. YAB Prime Minister is scheduled to participate in several sessions including a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Business Council (ARBC) themed “Shaping a Bold and Forward Looking Future for ASEAN in the New Global Context” where he is invited to deliver a speech as the special guest. The Prime Minister will also be attending the Informal Gathering of the...

Asean will officially call itself a single market by year’s end, but “big things” like seamless travel within the 10-nation bloc would only come in 2020, Malaysia’s trade minister told AFP in an interview. “We’re going to declare ourselves as an Asean Economic Community,” said Mustapa Mohamed, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Southeast Asian bloc this year. “We don’t have complete integration or harmonisation yet, 2015 is laying the stage for bigger things to come,” he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We’re going to get almost there by 2015 but the big things like seamless travel… would come in 2020. “What’s important is that we’re committed, I’m not saying that we’re backtracking,” added the minister. The Southeast Asian bloc, a market of about 600 million people, had set 2015 as a deadline for integrating the region’s vast economies into a single European Union-style market, with tariffs...

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 (Bernama) — ASEAN has truly gained traction as an potentially dynamic economic entity with huge prospects for trade and investment. This will undoubtedly take on greater prominence with the realisation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of this year. Undoubtedly, the AEC has created a conducive environment for local companies to increase sales, open operations outside their domestic market and enable sourcing on a region-wide basis. Its significance by being the seventh largest economy in the world with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$2.5 trillion, has attracted more non-ASEAN countries to be dialogue partners with it including Bangladesh and Timor Leste. Realising its potential back then, Australia was the first to come on board as a dialogue partner, quickly followed by China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, India, the United States, Russia, Canada and the European Union. To take this significantly further, ASEAN is in...

DAVOS (Switzerland), Jan 29 (Bernama) — Despite having his trip cut short, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak succeeded in his dual mission to promote both Malaysia and ASEAN as preferred investment destinations. And, reassured international investors convinced by the strong case Najib presented in highlighting Malaysia’s competiveness on its own merit and its strategic position within South East Asia (SEA), sounded out their long-term commitment to Malaysia and ASEAN. Although temperatures were below freezing point, Najib managed both in warming and winning the hearts of these investors who reaffirmed their commitment to continue to operate and expand in Malaysia such as Royal Vopak, Novartis and Lafarge. Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, took time to personally meet the corporate leaders of six companies — BAE, Lloyds, Royal Dutch Shell, General Electric, Nestle and Standard Chartered Group, which were looking at investing more in the country, as well as,...

After years of planning and negotiations on trade in goods and services among the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) may finally emerge by the end of this year. The more established and sophisticated businesses in the 600 million-strong region have already positioned themselves accordingly. The challenge will be to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises also benefit from the creation of a common market and production base in the region. One business that is almost certain to do well is AirAsia, which has expanded its routes across the region. Speaking at the recently concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the Malaysian low-cost carrier’s CEO Tony Fernandes called for the creation of a single aviation authority for ASEAN and expressed optimism about the future of the region. “A superb ASEAN meeting with 10 ministers and top business leaders. Best attended meeting in Davos. Future of...

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) — The plunge in global oil prices will not impact the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), said Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Ir Hamim Samuri. He said plans for ASEAN to declare itself as a single economic community were moving ahead with speed. “We are convinced that even the global slump in oil prices will not have an adverse effect towards the realisation of the AEC,” he said at Affin Hwang Capital Conference Series 2015 here today. He was one of the speakers at the conference. Hamim said Malaysia, as chair of ASEAN for 2015, was focused on realising the AEC by year-end. “We aim for ASEAN member states to complete 95 per cent of the integration measures by that date,” he said. He said the potentials for ASEAN were enormous and if combined with the conclusion of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the region’s future economic growth would be...