The fourth round of negotiations on the Korea-Malaysia FTA is the first official round between the two countries in five years, since the previous negotiations were held in September 2019, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea.
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| The signing of the Korea-Malaysia bilateral FTA is expected to strengthen the Asian giant's trade and investment base across the ASEAN region. |
According to the announcement of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea on August 23, Director General of Korea's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Negotiation Department Ryu Peob Min and Senior Director of Strategic Negotiation Department of Malaysia's Ministry of Trade, Investment and Industry (MITI) Sumathi Balakrishnan are conducting the fourth round of official negotiations on the Korea-Malaysia FTA in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from August 20-23.
In addition to the ongoing negotiations on the working group on trade in goods, the two sides will add working groups on services, investment, digital, green and biotechnology with the aim of facilitating a comprehensive FTA, including market opening and new trade rules.
As South Korea's third and fourth largest ASEAN partners in terms of trade and investment, Malaysia is a supplier of natural gas and petroleum products, while South Korea exports petroleum products, semiconductors and refined chemical materials to the Southeast Asian country.
In terms of complementary trade structures, the conclusion of the bilateral FTA is expected to strengthen Korea's trade and investment base across the ASEAN region.
Assessing that Malaysia's economy has a positive, stable and strong outlook thanks to solid macroeconomic fundamentals, Mr. Shan Saeed, global chief economist of Juwai IQI, recently said that the Southeast Asian country's economy is in a growth phase despite the potential impact from some global challenges such as geopolitical tensions and rising interest rates in developed countries.
This expert predicts that Malaysia's GDP will reach about 4 - 5% by 2024, if macroeconomic stability is maintained.
According to Mr. Shan Saeed, foreign direct investment (FDI) is very important for macroeconomic development because it shows the Malaysian government's efforts to ensure policy stability and growth potential for the country. And FDI will flow into Malaysia from various sources such as China, Singapore, Europe and the US.
Meanwhile, according to many experts, Southeast Asia is expected to become an increasingly important destination for FDI flows, as multinational companies diversify their supply chains to increasingly take advantage of the ASEAN region's competitive advantages.
It can be said that ASEAN currently possesses many favorable prospects to attract FDI inflows, based on many factors. First of all, the continued strong expansion of domestic consumer markets in major economies in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), especially mainland China and India, will be an important factor driving growth in demand for raw materials, intermediate goods and final manufactured products in ASEAN.
Solid and sustained economic growth is driving rapid growth in GDP per capita in many of Asia’s largest emerging markets, which will help boost demand for many ASEAN exports. Meanwhile, intra-ASEAN trade is also expected to grow strongly and sustainably, driven by rapid growth in the large and fast-growing Southeast Asian countries, particularly Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
According to the most recent available data for 2022, the total nominal GDP of the 10 ASEAN member countries in USD terms reached 3.6 trillion USD, more than double the total GDP of 1.6 trillion USD in 2009 and slightly higher than that of India - a country with a GDP of 3.5 trillion USD in 2022.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/ong-lon-chau-a-muon-cung-co-quan-he-trong-khap-asean-tai-khoi-dong-dam-phan-fta-voi-quoc-gia-nay-sau-5-nam-283715.html
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