KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian cooperatives could potentially
improve their contributions to the country's economy if they network with their
regional counterparts more extensively, said Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and
Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The minister lamented that local
cooperatives continued to remain domestic.
“As such, their contributions to
the country's gross domestic product (GDP) continue to remain at one percent.
“If our cooperatives are willing
to set up networking with the Asean counterparts, their contributions to
Malaysia's GDP can reach 10% by 2020,” he said
Ismail Sabri said Asean has many
co-operative members.
“In Indonesia alone, there are 35
million members, and in Vietnam there are 12,000 cooperatives with millions of
members.
“We will surely be left behind if
we do not capitalise on this potential to increase networking among
cooperatives in the region,” he said after witnessing the signing of a
Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the ministry and Vietnam's Planning and
Investment Ministry here on Wednesday.
The memorandum was the first in a
series of agreements planned by the ministry to connect local cooperatives with
those in other Asean countries, as a prelude to the Asean Economic Community
(AEC), which will take effect across the region's borders in 2015.
Among others, the AEC aims to
form a single regional market and production base, fair economic competition
among Asean members, the integration and development of SMEs to accelerate
progress of less-developed members, and full integration with the global
economy.
Ismail Sabri added that the memorandum
with Vietnam focuses on three major aspects - business potential, exchange of
skills, and research and development.
“A working committee will be set
up comprising representatives of both countries to discuss the next step.
“We are also in discussions to
sign similar memoranda with Brunei, Timor Leste and Indonesia. We hope an
agreement can be reached by the year end,” he said.
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