By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) — Deepening Closer Economic Relations (CER) between ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand through frameworks such as the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and the broader Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is creating regulatory certainty, trade predictability and foreign direct investment (FDI) magnetism.
Juwai IQI global chief economist Shan Saeed told Bernama that such regional integration provides precisely the kind of risk offsets that global investors are seeking in today’s uncertain environment.
“RCEP spans around 30 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP), covers 2.3 billion people, and accounts for nearly 28 per cent of world merchandise trade, giving firms scalable rules and origin cumulation across the region,” he said.
Shan emphasised that while bilateral deals will remain adjunct instruments, ASEAN’s centre of gravity lies in regional consolidation through AANZFTA and RCEP rather than a mosaic of one-off side deals.
He noted that the upgraded AANZFTA, which entered into force on April 21, 2025, for Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, streamlines the use of trade preferences and enhances certainty in the services sector.
“Pragmatic liberalisation, not pyrotechnics, is the way forward. Expect upgrades to rules-of-origin cumulation, digital trade facilitation, and services commitments. These are natural follow-through steps after the AANZFTA upgrade, making market access more bankable and frictionless,” he said.
According to him, ASEAN’s approach reflects geoeconomic pragmatism rather than bloc politics, with the ASEAN-CER-RCEP framework institutionalising strategic equidistance that reduces friction for both Western and Chinese capital while preserving ASEAN centrality and positioning Malaysia as a regional connector.
“RCEP’s breadth– in terms of population, GDP and trade share –is precisely what allows capital and supply chains to be de-risked without binary alignment,” he added.
Shan also outlined five-year strategic growth areas where Malaysia is well-positioned to lead over the next five years, particularly semiconductors and electrical and electronics; clean energy and transition fuels; critical-minerals midstream; digital trade and services; and halal agri-food value chains.
He highlighted that Malaysia currently accounts for approximately 13 per cent of global semiconductor testing and packaging, with the national semiconductor initiative aiming to attract over RM500 billion in investment this decade, supported by clear policy signals and recent commitments.
Shan said combining Australian and New Zealand resource inputs with Malaysia’s strengths in solar, grid infrastructure and ammonia/hydrogen logistics could create bankable decarbonisation supply chains, well aligned with AANZFTA’s modernised digital and services chapters.
He also noted that ASEAN’s internet economy is projected to reach US$1 trillion by 2030, opening opportunities for Malaysian fintech, cloud services, and cybersecurity exports under updated e-commerce rules.
On halal agri-food value chains, Shan explained that Malaysia could serve as a key hub by channelling CER-sourced halal food products through its certification system for premium re-exports across ASEAN, tapping into rising regional demand and scale under RCEP.
“Malaysia does not chase volatility but engineers resilient interdependencies. The ASEAN-CER-RCEP nexus is our scalable blueprint for long-horizon prosperity. Malaysia continues to stay on global investors radar,” Shan concluded.
Malaysia currently holds the ASEAN chairmanship and is hosting the 57th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ (AEM) Meeting from Sept 22 to 26, bringing together economic ministers from across the region.
— BERNAMA
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