KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin
Yassin today emphasised the need for Asean nations and Japan to shape their
future relationship into one more suited to the realities of the 21st century.
He said that if in the past,
Japan was Asean's principal partner in economic matters, today the regional
economic engagement had expanded to include China, South Korea, India,
Australia and New Zealand.
"This, too, may change as
there is a proposal to reformulate this network of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
under an arrangement to be known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP).
"All these developments will
ultimately have an impact on the status quo. As much as we are happy with the
current state of affairs between the two sides, it is time for us to look for
new ways to strengthen and deepen these relations," he said in his keynote
address at the 38th Asean-Japan Business Meeting, here.
Malaysia-Japan Economic
Association (MAJECA) chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim and Japan's Ambassador to
Malaysia Shigeru Nakamura were also present at the event.
Muhyiddin suggested that to
strengthen Asean-Japan relations, four areas had to be explored.
Firstly, he said, there was a
need to promote Japanese investments in high value-added sectors such as green
technologies, environmental technologies, bio-technologies and information
communication technologies in the Asean countries.
Secondly, measures needed to be
taken to double trade and investment volume and conclude the signing of the
Asean-Japan investment and Asean-Japan services agreements, he said.
Thirdly, he said, it was
necessary to improve Asean-Japan connectivity.
Fourthly, there was a need to
create greater awareness of Asean among Japanese small and medium enterprises
(SMEs), he said.
On the Asean Economic Community
(AEC), Muhyiddin said Asean should not delay implementation of its plan to form
an economic community by 2015.
He said the progress of this
project was being monitored at the leaders' level.
"In this context, let me
reiterate the strong commitment of the Malaysian government to do what is
necessary to form the AEC. Our success rate in the implementation of the AEC
blueprint measures over 90 per cent," he said.
Meanwhile, Nakamura read out a
congratulatory message from Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda who said
Japan was determined to further deepen 'kizuna' (friendship) and would continue
to expand political and security cooperation to maintain regional peace and
stability.
Strengthening the region's
economic integration would benefit global economies, Noda said.
"Enhancement of Asean connectivity
is an issue that Japan will actively work on together with the private sector.
We want to continue to achieve growth together with Asean," he added.
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