Malaysia aims for greater logistics and transport integration as Asean chair

The Star

Malaysia aims to foster a more integrated Asean logistics and transport network when it assumes the Asean chairmanship next year, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke.  Speaking at a press conference on Friday (Nov 22) following the signing of Asean Protocol 5 on Own Stopover Rights between Points within the Territory of any Asean Member State, Loke emphasised that enhanced logistics and transport connectivity are crucial for strengthening economic cooperation across the region.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/y4vnh8f5  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00You mentioned Nixian Malaysia is taking over ASEAN chairmanship, and you see this is a

00:05fruitful start to the Nixian meeting, so what do you say your top priorities are for specifically

00:11the logistics and connectivity in Southeast Asia?

00:14What we hope to achieve from this ASEAN meeting, especially when Malaysia becomes the chairman

00:21of ASEAN, is that we want to have a more integrated ASEAN.

00:25We look at integration is very important, and we want to have more economic integration,

00:30and to have more economic integration, logistics and transport plays a very important role.

00:35Because by having seamless connectivity, it will help trade to flows between ASEAN and

00:41within ASEAN.

00:42And this is, as I said, it's very important, especially with the current situation worldwide,

00:48we have to trade more within ourselves, and we have to utilise our position as a bloc.

00:54You know, when individual countries, we are limited as one country, but when we come

00:58together as a bloc, then we become a force to be reckoned with.

01:03As I mentioned, with 10 countries, almost 700 million population, then the rest of the

01:08world will look at us as a bloc, as an important part of the world.

01:13So we are beginning to see a lot of interest to ASEAN by EU, by China, by Korea, Japan,

01:22and even US.

01:24So in this meeting, for example, besides the traditional three partners that we have dialogues

01:29with, China, Japan and Korea, we also have dialogues with the EU Business Council, we

01:34also have luncheon with the US ASEAN Business Council.

01:39That means they look at ASEAN as a major market for them, and as a major economic bloc.

01:44That's why Malaysia will continue to play our role to ensure that more integrated ASEAN,

01:51and one of the pivotal role is that we must have better connectivity and cut down on barriers.

01:57Aviation wise, we have done well.

01:59I think aviation within ASEAN, we have done quite well.

02:02We have open skies policy.

02:04Right now, we have discussions about talking about ASEAN single market on aviation.

02:09That is, of course, still work still to be done.

02:12But what we are looking at is not only just aviation, maritime, for example, what we want

02:17to have more integrated and more connectivity maritime in terms of operations.

02:24We are talking about digitalization of our ports, so that ports can share information

02:28among each other to make our ports more competitive.

02:32Land transport, and especially rail, rail network is very important.

02:37There are missing links which have been rectified right now, especially between Laos and China.

02:44Because in ASEAN, there are a couple of landlocked countries, for example, Laos, Cambodia, Laos.

02:53In particular, Laos benefited from this connectivity.

02:57We want to connect them to China and to us, because Malaysia as a coastal country, the

03:06moment they connect to us, that is an important link to maritime.

03:10We have all the deep sea ports along the Straits of Malacca.

03:13So that is why Malaysia is very actively engaging with our partners, so that we can

03:19link up the entire, not the entire, but at least in the continental ASEAN member states

03:27like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and also China.

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