Media Friends and Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen
A very good afternoon and thank you for being here.
Under the leadership of Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship 2025, we successfully convened the 26th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council this morning.
The Meeting was attended by the AEC Council Ministers from the ten ASEAN Member States, Timor-Leste as an observer and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for the ASEAN Economic Community. Today’s meeting is significant not only for Malaysia, but also for the entire ASEAN community.
We are at a pivotal juncture, marking the culmination of the AEC Blueprint 2025 and preparing for our next journey: the post-2025 agenda, as set out in the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, particularly the AEC Strategic Plan 2026-2030.
Under Malaysia’s leadership this year, we have significantly strengthened the ASEAN foundation and ensured continuity to advance our economic integration efforts. All these are key towards realising ASEAN’s goal of being a prosperous, stable and resilient economic bloc - and becoming the 4th largest economy globally by 2030.
I am pleased to highlight the key discussion points and outcomes of our Ministerial meeting.
Let me begin by sharing Malaysia's scorecard on the implementation of our 18 Priority Economic Deliverables (PEDs). As of this meeting, seven (7) PEDs have been fully completed, with another five (5) expected to be delivered by the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits — bringing the total to twelve (12) completed PEDs. We are encouraged by this strong progress and remain confident that the remaining six (6) PEDs will be successfully delivered by end-2025.
{C}The PEDs to be delivered by the Summits include two major economic agreements: the signing of the 2nd Protocol to Amend the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol. These are key to deepening ASEAN regional economic integration, and ASEAN’s engagement with external partners. With provisions that are forward looking, we expect these agreements to future-proof ASEAN’s trade architecture. They also reaffirm our commitment to an open, inclusive, and rules-based trading system.
Next, we are pleased with the signing of the enhanced ASEAN Power Grid MoU and the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Petroleum Security. These are critical in building a resilient and sustainable energy future for the region. In addition, we welcome the APG Financing Initiative that is supported by multilateral banks, i.e., the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. This will facilitate and accelerate development of cross-border energy infrastructure in the region.
In line with our commitment to the ASEAN sustainability agenda, we adopted the ASEAN Sustainable Investment Guidelines to reinforce and complement our initiatives on carbon neutrality and circular economy. These Guidelines will create a responsible and inclusive investment landscape in the region.
We also adopted the ASEAN Framework for Integrated Semi-Conductor Supply-Chain to position ASEAN in the global value chain for semi-conductor. With this Framework, we aim to build on our existing strengths and ride on the tech-AI momentum to capture a bigger share of the global semiconductor market, projected to reach USD1 trillion by 2029.
Related to this, we are very pleased to share that we have substantially concluded the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) negotiations. The DEFA, as the first regional-wide digital economy arrangement, is a concrete step towards developing a comprehensive and coherent digital transformation strategy towards an ASEAN Digital Economy. DEFA aims to facilitate the seamless and secure flow of goods, services, with data security at its core, underpinned by enabling regulation, infrastructure, and talent. We look forward to concluding the negotiations and signing the DEFA next year.
On the sectoral front, we have endorsed for adoption by the Leaders for several declarations on minerals development, quality tourism, food, agriculture and forestry, and on establishment of AI safety network.
The Declaration on the ASEAN Minerals Development Vision outlines ASEAN’s ambition to become a leading destination for minerals investment, including critical minerals. The Vision aims to strengthen production and trade through technological advancement, sound governance, and sustainable best practice.
ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Quality Tourism provides a landmark framework to position ASEAN as a single destination, foster human capital development, promote digital transformation and inclusive marketing.
ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on the Vision for Food, Agriculture and Forestry Towards 2045 articulates a long- term aspiration to establish a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient sector that enhances farmer livelihoods, advances climate action and innovation, as well as reinforces ASEAN’s position as a key trading partner.
The Declaration on the Establishment of an ASEAN Safety Network (ASEAN AI SAFE) will set up a regional hub for AI safety to promote the responsible and ethical use of AI across ASEAN. It will align AI safety policies, support knowledge sharing and capacity building, and serve as a platform for collaboration among governments, businesses, academia, and civil society. The hub will also build international partnerships and raise public awareness about AI and its impacts.)
As we are in the final phase of the AEC Blueprint 2025, we also discussed its overall implementation. We are pleased to share that ASEAN is expected to achieve a substantive completion rate of nearly 90% by December 2025. We have instructed the sectoral bodies to ensure delivery of all on-going activities.
We have considered the recommendations of the overall end-term reviews of the AEC Blueprint 2025. We support and concur with the measures to address the strategic imperatives and improve our institutional mechanisms.
Moving forward, to ensure effective and practical implementation of the AEC initiatives and the successor AEC Strategic Plan 2026-2030, we are working towards establishing a robust results-oriented M&E framework and system, strengthening our strategic foresight capabilities, and developing a well-functioning coordination mechanism.
In terms of the implementation of the AEC Strategic Plan 2026-2030, we have further adopted its attendant documents, the Key Outcome Indicators (KOIs) and the Consolidated List of Activities, apart from the List of Quick Wins adopted earlier this year. We also welcomed the finalisation/endorsement of several sectoral plans, and noted the progress of the remaining, on-going plans. These will ensure a fit-for-purpose, practicable, measurable and robust implementation of the new plan.
We also noted the continuing efforts on the ASEAN Community Statistical System in enhancing ASEAN Statistics, particularly to enhance the support the implementation and monitoring of the AEC Strategic Plan. We have tasked the ministries/agencies to work closely with national statistics authorities - this is to improve standardization and harmonization of definitions and classifications, improve the use of administrative data, and contribute in the technical/methodological development of new indicators, where necessary.
Today’s AECC Meeting reaffirmed ASEAN's commitment towards a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive regional economy. We look forward to a successful 47th ASEAN Summit and a shared, prosperous future. I will now take questions from the floor.
Thank you.
--BERNAMA
