Govt Set Aside RM926m To Manage Asean 2025 Chairmanship, Says Foreign Minister

A total of RM926.187 million has been approved by the government to manage Malaysia's Asean 2025 chairmanship, involving 326 meetings across the three main pillars of regional cooperation throughout this year, the Dewan Negara was told on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said, however, that the account had not been closed as there are still Asean meetings taking place until the end of the year.

"For the Foreign Ministry alone, the allocation was RM560 million. It chairs the political and security pillar, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry heads the economic pillar, while the social and cultural pillar is chaired by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture," he said during an oral question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara sitting on Tuesday.

He was replying to a question from Senator Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz regarding the total cost of hosting the 47th Asean Summit and measures to ensure that spending remains prudent and provides economic returns.

Elaborating, Mohamad said that Malaysia's chairmanship created history with the hosting of the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and the Asean-GCC-China Summit, an achievement never before attained by a chair country previously, given that all three blocs have strategic strengths in terms of natural resources, capital and large markets.

Mohamed stressed that Malaysia's priority is to increase intra-Asean trade, which is currently still below 25%, to reduce dependence on traditional markets.

Under Malaysia's chairmanship, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations, which had stalled since 2020, were successfully revived, while the renegotiation of the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga) was also initiated.

In reply to a question on the economic returns from hosting Asean, Mohamad explained that the summit is not a bidding event like a sports event, but rather a periodic mandate every 10 years that provides long-term benefits through policy decisions, outcome documents and the strengthening of the Asean bloc with a population of over 700 million.

Benefits are also expected through platforms such as Atiga, the Asean Digital Economy Framework Agreement and the RCEP, which are designed to boost regional growth, while Malaysia's strategic position continues to attract high-tech and data centre investments.

"Just look at the investments flowing in...the Johor-Singapura Special Economic Zone alone has received RM17 billion in investments since its establishment in the middle of this year as multinational companies chose Johor due to the high operating costs in Singapore," he said.

In terms of geopolitical affairs, Mohamad said Malaysia's greatest success was implementing an inclusive agenda by accepting Timor-Leste as the 11th Asean member after more than a decade of waiting, as a result of consistent diplomacy.

Source: Theedgemarkets