KUALA LUMPUR: The intra-Asean trade which has been on an increasing trend over the years is expected to surpass the global average by 2% to 3% this year, said Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

"Over the years we have seen a gradual increase in intra-Asean trade and investment. We had started with about 10% intra-Asean trade 20 years ago, and now it is about 24% to 25%, which is a big jump in terms of the intra-Asean trade," he told reporters after officiating the Asean Business Forum 2015 yesterday.

"This year, we are forecasting 2% to 3% growth in trade. We believe the fast-paced growth of Asean economies relative to others in the world, and trade growth in ASEAN is going to be higher than the global average," he added, noting that the average global trade has grew by 5.9% last year.

In 2013, intra-Asean trade amounted to US$608.6 billion, accounting for 24.2% of total trade of the region, compared with US$458.1 billion in 2008, when the Asean Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint was first implemented.

Commenting on intra-Asean investment, he expects the market share of the global foreign direct investment (FDI) flow to gradually increase between 11% to 12%, from its current 10%.

The total FDI inflows to Asean amounted to US$122.4 billion in 2013, representing the highest FDI flows into a region, globally, in which US$21.32 billion came from investments within Asean members.

Mustapa said he expects to see more investments coming from Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines this year, due to the country's continuous stability in economy and improvement in business landscape.

Last year, the top-three Asean markets for Malaysia were Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, with each recording 51%, 19% and 15% of the country's total export share.

The Asean market accounted for 26.8% of Malaysia's total trade last year, valued at RM389.03 billion with an increase of 3.9% from 2013.

"We see this phenomenon growing in the next few years, more intra-Asean trade and more intra-Asean investments coming in," he said, noting the Asean Business Forum is part of the government's initiative to build awareness on the opportunities within Asean.

The forum which is aimed to give participants an insight on Asean's market needs and prospects, was attended by over 1000 participants from all over the country.