Malaysia has established itself as one of the most trade-friendly countries in the world, exporting a competitive range of products to more than 200 global markets. In 2022, Malaysia’s trade registered a historic performance with trade, exports, imports and trade surplus reaching an all-time high. Last year, the country’s trade to GDP ratio stood at 159.3%.
But in an increasingly competitive world, countries that were once lagging in their performance have recently surpassed us. Given the current global and domestic challenges, the Malaysian government has committed to rejuvenate and reposition Malaysia in the global economy under the 12th Malaysia Plan 2021 – 2025. Being the national trade promotion organisation, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) complements the efforts in realising these aspirations.
Considering the significant contribution of trade to Malaysia’s economy, a National Trade Blueprint (NTBp) was commissioned by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and developed by MATRADE. It is a five-year plan to enhance the nation’s export competitiveness through strengthening the business ecosystem and position Malaysia as a leading exporting country.
“This blueprint reflects its importance and demonstrates the Government’s proactive approach in addressing the challenges that Malaysia has to overcome in order to remain relevant in global trade,” MATRADE’s Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz elaborated.
“MATRADE is coordinating concerted efforts by ministries, agencies and other stakeholders within the business ecosystem, which is crucial in ensuring the NTBp’s successful implementation”.
Under the blueprint, eight working groups were established to address and enhance particular areas within the business ecosystem in order to strengthen the capacity and capability of Malaysian exporters.
WG1 – Trade Facilitation, which aims to reduce the business costs by improving regulatory processes and efficiency.
WG2 – Standards and Conformance to help reduce the cost of conformity and assist Malaysian exporters meet international regulatory standards.
WG3 – Trade Promotion and Market Access, which will develop the Single Information Portal for Export (SIPE), to provide information across the export value chain that helps Malaysian companies in global trading. It also empowers and facilitates local associations and private sectors undertake export activities.
WG4 – Sustainability and Innovation focuses on establishing a sustainable manufacturing centre, addressing forced labour issues and other unethical practices. It also addresses the increasing awareness of intellectual property rights among Malaysian exporters.
WG5 – Digitalisation and Technology aims to drive export competitiveness by increasing the adoption of digitalisation and B2B e-commerce in order to penetrate new export markets.
WG6 – Investment seeks to diversify the basket of export products through export-oriented investment.
WG7 – Branding, which nurtures SMEs in product branding and increases the visibility of Malaysian brands in regional and international export markets.
WG8 – Logistics, where the Ministry of Transport revised its policy to allow sharing of prime movers and trailers within the same group of companies. This will reduce capital and operating cost by 10%-20% and resolve the issue of high ancillary charges.
The NTBp aims to take Malaysia’s trade ecosystem to the next level and future-proof it for the challenges that lie ahead. These working groups report to the Export Coordination Committee (Jawatankuasa Koordinasi Eksport, JK-X), which is chaired by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia with members comprising the secretary general from all ministries, as the governing and supervising body of NTBp’s implementations, besides streamlining all export promotion activities.
The goal of the NTBp is to provide a positive impact for the nation through higher export revenue for exporters, strengthening Malaysia’s global trade competitiveness and ranking, as well as improving the wellbeing of the rakyat.
