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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia respects India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Association (Rcep), but is hopeful that the ASEAN Dialogue Partner country will join the trade pact in the future, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pix).
The Prime Minister, speaking at the 17th Asean-India Summit on Thursday, expressed his appreciation for India’s active participation and valuable contributions in the Rcep negotiations and the formation of the Rcep Agreement.
India chose to exit the Rcep negotiations in November 2019. With that, the Rcep, which is scheduled to be signed on the last day of the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings this Sunday, will include the 10 member states of the ASEAN, as well as Australia. , China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Muhyiddin pointed out that Malaysia and Asean see India as an important and strategic partner and that trade between ASEAN and India has increased tremendously over the years.
He said that in 2019, India was the sixth largest trading partner among ASEAN’s dialogue partners with total merchandise trade reaching $ 77 billion.
“This partnership bodes well in pursuit of Asean’s economic development initiatives and also the evolving economic architecture in Asia. In this context, both parties must redouble their efforts to take advantage of the greater potential that exists in trade and other economic relations, ”he said at the summit, held within the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings.
ASEAN-India dialogue relationships from a sectoral dialogue partnership in 1992 were upgraded to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995.
The relationship was further elevated with the convening of the Asean-India Summit in 2002 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said he is pleased that officials from both sides have agreed on the way forward for the revision of the Asean-India Goods Trade Agreement (Aitiga).
Malaysia, he said, looks forward to the overhaul to make Aitiga easier to use, simpler and trade-friendly for businesses.
Malaysia strongly believes that the review is important to ensure Aitiga remains relevant and to ensure further improvements in trade relations and supply chain enhancement for the prosperity of both ASEAN and India, he said.
The prime minister said he hoped all parties would refrain from imposing increasing and unnecessary protectionist measures that may affect difficulties and challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Both Asean and India must work together to ensure that our borders remain open and trade procedures are more facilitating,” he said.
Muhyiddin also highlighted the importance of embracing digital solutions in (economic) recovery efforts by seizing the opportunities provided by digital transformation, such as e-commerce and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Malaysia believes that digital transformation will help us ‘prepare for the future’ of economic growth in our region. Therefore, Asean and India must accelerate digitization and business reform to address these new challenges, in particular to achieve sustainable growth, as well as to keep the business afloat, ”he said.
The prime minister leads the Malaysian delegation to the biannual summit practically from here (Kuala Lumpur) that runs until Sunday.
The summit is chaired by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in his capacity as President of Asean 2020 under the theme “Asean Cohesive and Responsive”.
Asean, established in 1967, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.Called
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