KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has today proposed that partners of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) should collaborate to establish a Centre of Excellence that would provide a more cohesive and structured platform towards facilitating seamless and dynamic exchanges of ideas and recommendations.
Making the call at the virtual IPEF Ministerial Meeting on July 26-27, Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said such a centre should be set up to bring together experts in areas such as supply chain resiliency, energy sector transformation and decarbonisation of emission-intensive industries.
"We strongly believe there is a need to go beyond the general scope and area of cooperation, to incorporate programmes, action plans and the requisite legislation, supported by capacity building, technical assistance and funding," he said at the two-day meeting chaired respectively by US trade representative Katherine Tai and commerce secretary Gina Raimondo.
The meeting was attended by ministers from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In their interventions, IPEF partners were generally resolute on the need to maintain the momentum of discussion so as to expedite the formulation of the Ministerial Statements before the upcoming ministerial meeting in September.
At the same time, it was generally agreed that sustainability and inclusivity should remain key principles of paramount concern to guide the trajectory of the framework's goals and objectives.
Azmin stressed that issues such as labour, environment, digital economy and food security are imperative to the well-being of not only the present generation but generations to come as well as extend onto the geopolitical and geo-economic fronts.
While concurring in principle on the proposal on gender equality and women's economic empowerment, the Senior Minister added that Malaysia also recognised the need to fully harness the economic potential of indigenous peoples, underscoring that "Malaysia is actively pursuing initiatives and policies to advance the interests and welfare of the disadvantaged and the marginalised communities."
Partners also spoke on the importance of binding commitments to allow for technical assistance and capacity building to ensure a level playing field with Malaysia also urging that the underlying issue of digital asymmetry among economies must be tackled, with specific action plans to accelerate the process of digitalisation for framework partners.
On the green economy, Azmin stressed that "the war on climate change" cannot be won without the private sector's contribution and active participation.
"This is a shared responsibility and all parties must come aboard to ensure that we translate rhetoric into reality," he said.
On the subject of anti-corruption measures, he articulated that transparency, accountability and good governance were the prerequisites subsumed under the overarching principles of fairness and rule of law so as to ensure that the benefits of economic growth were broadly and equitably shared.