PM: Malaysia seeks to upgrade its free trade agreements to cover digitalisation

Wednesday 22 Jan 2025

DAVOS, Switzerland (Jan 21): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said digitalisation is a "missing component" in all of Malaysia's previous free trade agreements (FTAs).

Stressing that digital transformation is one of the priorities that Asean is aggressively embarking on, he said Malaysia, which is currently looking at upgrading some of the existing FTAs, is also looking at digitalisation as part of the "upgrade".

“We have just signed last week with the United Arab Emirates, The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with the United Kingdom, and now, we want to have a fast track with the European Union (EU) through the Malaysia-EU Free Trade Agreement (MEUFTA).

"A very important component that was missing in all previous FTAs is of course digitalisation," he told a media briefing at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025 here on Tuesday.

Anwar, who is also finance minister, said that on the digital transformation within Asean, the artificial intelligence (AI) driven connectivity needs to take into consideration the various gaps between those in the urban centres with more connectivity to the less developed areas.

"Our commitment is to make sure that this sort of transmission (Asean Power Grid, or APG) and also the transformation of digitalisation, would cover all areas and angles.

"If these two priorities are achieved, I think it would be a phenomenal feat for Asean as a region because as you know, it is relatively the most peaceful region in the world and the fastest growing economy. But we have not given emphasis to substantive economic or technological collaboration," he said.

Anwar also expressed confidence that the consensus that have been achieved among Asean leaders signify a very important radical departure from the conventional view of Asean leaders in the past.

Apart from that, the prime minister also pointed out the importance of private sectors coming together through collaborations in digitalisation, to fast forward the initiative among member countries.

Aside from digitalisation, member countries are also looking at realising the APG, which is a regional power interconnection to connect the region, that could subsequently lead to a total integrated Southeast Asia power grid system.

APG is connecting Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, including the Sarawak-Peninsular Malaysia connection via undersea cables, the prime minister said as he shared his views on "Unlocking Asean's Digital Future" as chairman of Asean.

Also present were Lee Joo-Ok as head of regional agenda, Asia-Pacific, and member of the executive committee, WEF; and Christophe De Vusser, the worldwide managing partner of Bain & Company.

Anwar is currently on a three-day working visit to attend the WEF 2025, which is the first for him as prime minister since 2022.

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