KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia has received the distinct honour of being selected as one of the two Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) partners to participate in the IPEFUpskilling Initiative, whereby seven million training opportunities are availed to women and girls across the region to acquire digital skills that prepare them for high-quality jobs.
In a statement today, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) said it bears stressing that being the first deliverable for IPEF, this upskilling initiative came about as a result of Malaysia’s earlier proposal for the IPEF to offer tangible benefits to Malaysians through technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives.
“Additionally, Malaysia proposed a regional initiative as a possible solution for ensuring supply chain security, which would entail each country having a national stockpile of critical products, of which the particular country has a comparative advantage relative to other trading partners,” it said.
In this vein, Miti Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali suggested that Malaysia’s memorandum of cooperation with the United States on semiconductor supply chain resilience signed earlier this year could be extended to regional platforms such as the IPEF.
He said the proposal was well received by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, commending it as an initiative that would help concretise gains.
Azmin, who attended the first high-level ministerial engagements on IPEF in Los Angeles from September 8 to 9, also had the occasion to engage in various bilateral meetings with his counterparts as well as hold discussions with private sector representatives, on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting.
Miti said the discussions covered a wide range of subjects, including the latest developments on bilateral trade and investment, facilitating public-private sector collaboration as well as the expectations of the respective IPEF partners going forward.
Azmin said the various engagements and the robust and candid exchanges will strengthen economic diplomacy between the US and other IPEF partners towards the shared goals of enhancing competitiveness, building economic resilience as well as realising the environmental, social, and corporate governance agenda collectively.
He said the 14 IPEF partners represent 40% cent of global gross domestic product and 28% of global goods and services trade. – Bernama, September 10, 2022
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