Malaysian trade minister on industry and globalization

Some developments in Malaysian infrastructure geared toward improving competitiveness and reducing cost of doing business in Malaysia include:

1. Development of special economic zones: In November 2006, the Iskandar Development Region (Southern Johor) was launched as the first new growth center in Malaysia. It will be developed as a special economic zone focusing on manufacturing; trade and services, education, multimedia industries, business and finance, cultural and medical tourism. Plans to develop similar zones in the Northern and Eastern region are being finalized. Special incentives will be provided to promote the growth of these zones.

2. Technological infrastructure: New sources of growth in the ICT sector are digital content development, e-commerce, and shared services and outsourcing (SSO).

Digital content development, measures include creation of the Digital Media Zone in Cyberjaya as a digital content development hub and review of the legal framework for intellectual property registration (IPR) for patents; trademarks, and copyrights for ICT-related products and services.

Looking at e-commerce, measures include encouraging industry to drive initiatives to access online information on products and services, as well as improve supply chain efficiency, and establishing business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce and networking applications.

SSO measures include improving requisite infrastructure facilities and services to attract SSO businesses while constant reviewing investment incentives to ensure they remain relevant and effective.

3. Government delivery systems: A Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH), chaired by the Chief Secretary of the Government, has been established by the Government to improve the public delivery system. PEMUDAH has identified institutional constraints and will propose measures to reduce bureaucracy in handling business-related systems and procedures, towards making the country more conducive to the business and investing community.

4. Services sector: Under the IMP3, eight services sub-sectors have been identified for promotion and future development. These are business and professional services, distributive trade, construction, education and training, healthcare services, tourism services, ICT services and logistics.
The Malaysian Services Development Council and the Malaysian Logistics Council have been formed to coordinate the promotion and development of the targeted services sectors. The infrastructure requirements of the services sub-sectors will be identified and implemented to supplement the existing infrastructure.

As for challenges, one challenge we face is to maintain a conducive business operating environment providing companies with the opportunities for growth and profits. The Malaysian government deals with this through constant consultations with the business community such as regular government-private sector dialogues.

Additionally, the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry also holds an annual dialogue with the private sector to receive feedback on how to improve the business operating environment. Over 160 industry organizations are represented in this dialogue. Industry organizations and business associations are also encouraged to contact the Ministry directly to find quick solutions to pressing issues.

VO: Malaysia is a member of ASEAN, the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations which also includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. With regards to the electronics contract manufacturing industry, in looking at emerging technologies in the industry and other developing markets in industry, what three (3) trends do you see taking shape in the electronics contract manufacturing sector that will help the ASEAN member nation region, as a whole, accelerate economic growth, social progress, and cultural development for the ten-member region?

Minister Aziz: According to research on the electronics industry, electronics output in Asia Pacific increased to 37 percent of the global output in 2005, compared with 20 percent in 1995 and 32.5 percent in 2002.

Malaysia and Singapore are both ranked among the top ten countries globally in terms of production. Industry market intelligence reports estimate that contract manufacturing output in Asia will reach US$155 billion in 2009 from US$70.2 billion in 2004, with a compounded annual growth rate of 17 percent over the 2004 - 2009 period. This strong growth is driven by the availability of skilled and cost-competitive labor and the increasing pool of technical expertise available in the ASEAN region.

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