AEC Provides Opportunities Beyond Asean -- Aussie Envoy

By Azzah Mohamad Som KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 (Bernama) -- The Asean Economic Community (AEC), one of the three pillars of Asean Community to be set up by year-end, will provide more opportunities for Australian companies in trade and investments, said Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, Rod Smith. He said with the coming into force of the AEC, Australian companies working with Malaysian partners could not only take advantage of emerging opportunities in Asean but also beyond. "We see the AEC as potentially unlocking tremendous opportunities for Aussie companies working with Malaysian partners to take advantage of emerging opportunities not only in other parts of Asean but also beyond Asean into the rest of the Asia-Pacific,” he said. He said this in an interview with Bernama in conjunction with Australia Day celebration -- 60 Years Australia in Malaysia (1955-2015). The AEC, when it is set up, will unite the 10 Asean member countries with over 600 million people in a common market. As for trade with Malaysia, the envoy said substantial growth was recorded, particularly after both countries signed the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement which came into effect in January, 2013. It was signed in May 2012. He hoped to see growth continue strongly. Smith said although exports had expanded, most of them were seen in Malaysian exports to Australia. "This clearly indicates that Malaysian exporters see Australia as a very strong market," he said. In 2013, Malaysia's total trade with Australia amounted to US$12.64 billion (RM45.66 billion), an increase of 4.5 per cent, compared with 2012, with exports valued at RM29.16 billion and imports at RM16.49 billion. (US$1 = RM3.61) The envoy said he hoped to see more Australians taking advantage of opportunities in Malaysia, in particular in agri-business, which offered great potential. There was also tremendous potentials for Australian and Malaysian companies to collaborate in engineering services, architecture, professional services, environmental impact assessment, areas which were related to infrastructure development, he said. On Islamic finance, he said, the Australian business community had shown a lot of interest in it. "There are already Islamic finance products and services available in Australia and I think there is a growing recognition on the part of the Australian business community in the potential of Islamic finance," he said. However, he said, there was still a need to look at how Australia’s regulatory systems could be adapted to enable Islamic finance to be more readily operated in Australia. -- BERNAMA