KUALA LUMPUR: Asean needs to lead innovation and no longer be a region where big players look to offshore their manufacturing hubs to lower costs, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said.
He said it is paramount that the region increase the trust and commitment to collaboration within member countries through shared technological goals to regain a comparative advantage in the global space.
"Asean should no longer be a region where big players look to offshore their manufacturing hubs to lower costs, but be leaders in innovation and create technologies of our own to solve the grand challenges of our time."
"Similarly, economic progress cannot come at the expense of our environment. It cannot be a choice between the two, but we have to accept that our respective economies achieve growth sustainably," he said in his officiating speech at 8th Selangor Asean Business Conference (SABC) 2024.
Amirudin said Asean has all the necessities to provide economic hope and make gains onprosperity better than any other region in the world.
With almost 700 million people throughout Southeast Asia, Asean represents nearly nine per cent of the global population.
"By 2030, Asean is tipped to be the world's fourth largest economy, while the three largest economies in the world; the United States, China, and Japan, are not showing the potential to grow at a rate comparable to Southeast Asia."As Asean goes through this transitional phase, I believe one key aspect political and business leaders must accept is the importance of co-dependency among countries and businesses in Thailand and Indonesia, between Vietnam and Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines, while we await the accession of East Timor as Asean's 11th member in the not too-distant future," he said.
Amirudin added that there is vast opportunity presented through key trade agreements like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
"To further build on the gains we have made as a region of peace, security, and neutrality, and to factor in risk into our economic planning to prepare for any eventuality, Asean leaders can co-create an economic future driven not by a race-to-the-bottom as was the case before, but a race-to-the top in wages, in living standards, better education which will lead to higher quality jobs, higher environmental standards, all with one primary goal in mind; to provide a better quality of live for all our people."
"In Selangor, that is the heartbeat of our economic planning framework as seen in the four primary themes put forward in the First Selangor Plan and the Mid-Term Review I tabled in the Selangor State Assembly just over three weeks ago," he said. -end-