SPEECH BY MR LIM HNG KIANG, MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY AT THE MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE BUSINESS FORUM 2011 ON THURSDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2011, 10.00am AT RAFFLES CITY CONVENTION CENTRE

Your Excellency Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry,

Mr Tony Chew, Chairman of Singapore Business Federation,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Introduction

It is my pleasure to join you at this morning’s Malaysia-Singapore Business Forum. Let me start by extending a warm welcome to Minister Mustapa and his delegation.

This annual forum is an important platform for the businesses from Singapore and Malaysia to come together to network, renew ties, and explore collaboration opportunities.The strong turnout today indicates a high level of business interest in Malaysia, and it also reflects the natural synergies that businesses can reap across our borders.

Malaysia: pressing ahead with progress

Our companies have traditionally looked towards Malaysia as the natural place to expand when they move overseas. In recent years, Malaysia has pressed ahead with significant new steps to improve its business environment and refresh its policies.

Indeed, Malaysia’s efforts are already showing early results, notably through the healthy flow of investments under the Economic Transformation Programme, or the ETP.For example, a total of 97 projects have been announced under the ETP.These projects are expected to collectively generate more than RM 170 billion in investments for Malaysia over the next few years.Aside from the headline numbers, the close engagement with the private sector under the ETP demonstrates the emphasis Malaysia is placing on enhancing its position as an investor-friendly destination.

Malaysia is also taking steps to liberalise 17 services sub-sectors in 2012.These include education and training services, telecommunications services, legal services, medical services, and others. Taken together, the new business activities generated under the ETP, and improvements to the ease of doing business will provide Malaysia with a boost to its economy.I encourage Singapore companies to take advantage of these trends, and to deepen your business links with Malaysia.

There are many more developments in Malaysia, which I am sure Minister Mustapa will elaborate upon later.I wish Malaysia every success as it continues in its efforts.

Positive momentum for the Malaysia-Singapore relationship

Singapore and Malaysia enjoy robust trade and investment ties, which are reinforced by the long-standing people-to-people links.Between January to October 2011, Malaysia continues to be Singapore’s single largest trading partner.Bilateral trade grew by 3.8% over the same period last year, to a total of $92.6 billion. Investment linkages are similarly robust.According to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, Singapore was the fifth largest investor in Malaysia for the first eight months of 2011, contributing RM 1.9 billion worth of manufacturing-related investments.

For businesses in Singapore, I encourage you to continue to capitalise on the comparative advantages of our two countries by integrating business or manufacturing processes across the borders.In particular, the close proximity between Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore means that managing such integrated processes can be faster and easier.This is a valuable proposition that should be exploited. Looking ahead into the future, with the right match of industries and connectivity for goods and people further enhanced, Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore could well have the potential to develop into a “seamless” economic space some day.

In the uncertain global economic climate, Malaysia and Singapore should reinforce each other’s growth by finding collaborative niches in the manufacturing and services value chains.This will help us ride out the economic volatility that lies ahead.

ASEAN’s economic integration

At the regional level, businesses can also look forward to closer ASEAN economic integration generating more business opportunities. Collectively, ASEAN constitutes a market of over 550 million people, with GDP totaling US$1.1 trillion.ASEAN’s GDP per capita has also grown steadily, rising from under US$ 1,500 per capita in 2004, to over US$2,500 in 2009[1].As ASEAN countries progress through different stages of economic development, this positive trend indicates sizeable potential in the various market segments open to our businesses.

Deliberate effort has been invested into fostering economic integration in the ASEAN region.The conclusion of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) constitute important efforts of our economic integration.The ongoing work towards an ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, or AEC 2015, will play an important role in further catalysing ASEAN’s development towards a single market and a single production base, creating a competitive economic region, reaching equitable economic development and ensuring integration into the global economy.

Conclusion

Business forums such as this allow Malaysia and Singapore to build on our mutual strengths to withstand the challenging global economic conditions ahead. Both sides can benefit by continuing to anchor business activities and growth in this region. I urge companies to seize opportunities across Malaysia and Singapore to move up your competitive positioning in the global marketplace.

On this note, I wish you a productive time of discussions and networking at today’s business forum.Thank you.