~ November 2016
10,000 Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are listed on international marketing technology platform Alibaba, said International Trade and Industry Minister Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed. Mustapa said the listing of the SMEs, under the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation’s (Matrade) e-commerce scheme, could help them penetrate overseas markets.
“ is is an instance of economic cooperation between Malaysia and China, and is expected to bene t SMEs in the country,” he said at the Ministers’ Question Time session at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
He was replying to Datuk Nawawi Ahmad (BN-Langkawi), who wanted to know the investment, trade and employment bene ts to Malaysia from the recent trade mission to China that reportedly brought investments worth RM144 billion into the country.
To a supplementary question from Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Bharu) on Malaysia’s stand and the status of the Trans- Paci c Partnership Agreement (TPPA) a er Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential election, Mustapa expressed hope the US would not make drastic changes to the trade pact.
“We read his (Trump’s) previous statement on this as rather harsh, but we see that he has changed his views on several issues. We hope this will also happen with the TPPA. We believe the US as a trading nation will not change its policies much. ere will de nitely be policy changes, but they will not be so radical,” he said.
e TPPA will also be included in the agenda for the Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting to be held in
Peru soon, he added.
Bernama, 11 November 2016
Malaysia May Be Affected if TPP Collapses, Trade Minister Says
Malaysia may be a ected if the Trans-Paci c Partnership (TPP) were to be discontinued following Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s US presidential election. A study conducted by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) found that the TPP would help boost Malaysia’s gross
domestic product, revenue and job creation, its minister, Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed said. He said another study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) projected that one million jobs would be created in the country within 10 years a er the TPP’s rati cation, which was set for 2018.
“If there is no TPPA (TPP Agreement), then those would not be generated,” he told reporters a er delivering a keynote address at the Australian Business Asia Conference organised by the Malaysia Australia Business Council (MABC), here today. Mustapa said Malaysia remained committed to the agreement, and would discuss the trade pact at the Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Peru in two weeks’ time.
“For now, it’s too early to say what will happen, but we are monitoring the development and we are talking to our colleagues from 11 other countries,” he said. Twelve countries—the US, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia — concluded the TPP negotiations in Atlanta on Oct 5 last year and signed the trade deal in Auckland on Feb 4 this year.
e TPP is a free-trade agreement that has been negotiated as part of the larger Trans-Paci c Strategic Economic Partnership since 2010. In his speech, Mustapa said Australian and Malaysian businessmen should explore doing business together and penetrate into third world countries.
“Malaysia has a big presence in Australia and they are also an important investor here like LendLease, the biggest developer in Australia. eir presence here re ect their con dence in the Malaysian economy and we hope this will open the doors for more Aussie companies to Malaysia,” said Mustapa. In 2015, total trade and investments between Australia and Malaysia stood at US$16 billion (RM68.1 billion).
Credit: BERNAMA
