The Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed, joined his APEC counterparts in Manila today to unanimously call for pragmatic, doable and meaningful outcomes at the upcoming 10th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC10) in Nairobi, Kenya next month.  

“MC10 in Nairobi is especially significant as 2015 marks the WTO’s 20th anniversary as the sole body governing global trade.  However, there seems to be lack of progress and convergence in some of its key initiatives, specifically, measures to facilitate trade in a transparent and predictable manner,” said Minister Mustapa Mohamed, at a special session on Supporting the Multilateral Trading System, at the margins of 27th APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM).

“We remain optimistic that the deliverables envisioned at the forthcoming MC10 can be achieved, if members step up their efforts to resolve the remaining issues under the Doha Development Agenda. Of particular interest to Malaysia is the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).  Malaysia sees the TFA as a doable deliverable in Nairobi and would like see more members, especially APEC economies ratifying the Agreement,” he added.  The TFA is still short of the two-thirds majority for it to come into force.  Malaysia ratified the Agreement on 26 May this year.

Meanwhile, at the second AMM plenary session today, Minister Mustapa highlighted that Malaysia continues to place emphasis on inclusive growth and human capital development. He added that dynamic and stable macroeconomic environment across the region is key to job and wealth creation. This includes putting in place polices and measures to enhance graduates employability. 

MITI Minister shared that at the ASEAN level, Malaysia has successfully implemented the MyASEAN Internship programme, which involves Malaysian companies with an ASEAN presence. “We hope this initiative, which promotes cross-border sharing of experience, can be replicated by APEC, in collaboration with APEC Business Advisory Council.  Malaysia believes that this effort can directly address the talent needs in the region,” he said. The first phase of this programme involved 40 interns attached to 12 Malaysian companies in ASEAN.

Minister Mustapa also concurred that inclusive growth also meant ensuring women’s participation in the labour force. He highlighted that Malaysia aims to increase female labor participation from 54% currently to 60% by 2020. Towards this end, Malaysia continues to create an enabling environment to support women, especially those with young families.

“We would like to see more APEC initiatives involving not only women and youth but also people with disabilities.  We commend the Philippines for enhancing its role in this process.  We hope we can also learn through sharing of best practices so that together we can improve the livelihoods of the bottom-40 of society at home and across the region”.

AMM closed the two-day meeting today with Ministers reaffirming their shared commitment to sustain economic growth, increase employment and promote greater cooperation towards creating sustainable and resilient community. 

Ministry of International Trade and Industry
17 November 2015, Manila