He said Malaysia’s upcoming chairmanship was significant, noting its potential impact not only due to the size of its economy within Asean but also its economic interdependence with neighbouring countries.
“In that leadership role, we assume a significant shift in policies that the government will be making towards regional integration,” he said in an interview with FMT Business.
The goal of economic integration within Asean is to create a stable, prosperous and highly competitive economic region.
Abrol said regional integration within Asean presents numerous opportunities for Malaysian businesses, and significantly enhances market access by reducing trade barriers.
For example, he cited the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) which allows Malaysian businesses to work more sustainably.
“It allows Malaysian businesses to not only expand their reach, but also diversify their products and services, to appeal to a wide variety of consumers in the region, and also business-to-business (B2B) interactions.”
Nevertheless, Abrol said Malaysia faces several regulatory challenges in achieving seamless integration with other Asean member states.
However, one of the major challenges is the lack of uniformity in regulations, he said.
To overcome this, he said initiatives like the Asean Economic Community (AEC) aim to harmonise standards, and differences in legal frameworks, tax policies and business regulations.
“The AEC seeks to support and continue working with different governments to bring that forward,” said Abrol, who is based in Singapore.
The formal establishment of the AEC in 2015 marked an important milestone in Asean’s economic integration agenda. It envisioned Asean as a single market and production base, with equitable economic development, and fully integrated into the global economy.
AEC Blueprint 2025
Interestingly, the AEC Blueprint 2025 was adopted at the 27th Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2015, when Malaysia last held the rotating Asean chairmanship. The blueprint provided broad directions to guide the next phase of the region’s economic integration over 10 years to 2025.
The Asean Summit will return to Kuala Lumpur in 2025, when Malaysia again assumes the chairmanship of the 10-nation bloc.
Abrol is also optimistic about Malaysia’s own prospects, pointing to the positive growth seen in the country’s economy.
“If you ask any analyst in the capital market, they would rate Bursa Malaysia as one of the most positive stock exchanges that they’re looking at,” he said.
He also believes this is an opportune time for several segments of the Malaysian economy, particularly those centred around sustainable infrastructure development in the region and the digital economy, which is taking off.
Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to be US$447 billion (RM2.1 trillion) at the end of 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Malaysian economy is the fifth largest in Asean and the 36th largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP. When measured by purchasing power parity, its GDP climbs to the 30th largest.