The Chair of the delegation warmly welcomed the delegation of Malaysia to Geneva, led by Datuk Isham Ishak, Secretary General of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. The Chair expressed gratitude to the government of Malaysia and the WTO Secretariat for their reports and praised the Secretary General’s thorough presentation of Malaysia’s macroeconomic policy. The Chair also extended condolences to Ambassador Acarsoy and the Turkish Mission for the humanitarian tragedy in both Turkey and Syria.
The Chair commended Malaysia’s strong and resilient economic growth, which has been enabled by its openness, and noted that the World Bank report rates Malaysia as one of the most open economies in the world. The Chair highlighted Malaysia’s aspirations to become a high-income country by 2028 and its positive results under the Twelfth Malaysia Plan.
The Chair also mentioned that Malaysia is the UK’s second-largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, with total trade reaching almost £6bn in the first four quarters of 2022 and British exports enhanced by just under 18% in the last year. The Chair expressed delight in the establishment of a UK-Malaysia Joint Committee on Bilateral Trade and Investment Cooperation and the upgrade to a Ministerial-led Joint Economic Trade Committee. The Chair looked forward to continuing to build economic cooperation between the two countries and through the UK’s new dialogue partner status in ASEAN.
The United Kingdom and Malaysia have a strong bilateral relationship that continues to flourish and expand across various sectors, including trade, education, and the environment. As the ninth largest foreign investor in Malaysia, the UK has a robust corporate footprint with over 200 British companies investing in various sectors of the Malaysian economy. Education remains at the heart of the UK-Malaysia relationship, with five UK university branch campuses in Malaysia and tens of thousands of young Malaysians studying in the UK.
In 2020, Malaysia invested £780 million in the UK, an increase of almost 230% from the previous year. The two countries also share a common commitment to delivering for global businesses and consumers through their participation in the Investment Facilitation for Development, MSME, and E-commerce Joint Initiatives. The UK is encouraging Malaysia to consider joining the initiative on Services Domestic Regulation, which has the potential to benefit businesses, especially in the developing world, by up to $150 billion globally per year.
The UK and Malaysia are collaborating on important current issues such as climate change and forced labor. The UK recently established its net-zero and energy department, and the two countries signed the UK-Malaysia Climate Partnership MoU in July 2022 to support greater technical assistance and knowledge sharing in achieving their shared climate goals.
Malaysia’s ratification of the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention last year and its efforts in the National Action Plan to end modern slavery and coercive labor practices are commendable, and the UK remains committed to working with Malaysia to achieve these goals.
On the trade front, the UK seeks to understand more about Malaysia’s trade policies and practices, particularly in government procurement, government-linked companies, sustainable manufacturing practices, and excise duties. The UK encourages Malaysia to continue opening its legal services sector, including business services, to competition and investment, which could support Malaysian corporations seeking to globalize and promote Malaysia’s development into a legal hub within ASEAN.
Source: Gov[Dot]UK
