Business aside, the PEDs would also promote sustainability, reflecting ASEAN’s seriousness in protecting the environment as it pursues growth.

These issues would feature prominently at the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits next week to be chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Among others, there would be meetings with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, India, New Zealand, Australia, European Union (EU) and Russia.

It is also common to see countries requesting bilateral meetings with other countries at the summit and one-on-one last-minute meetings between leaders possibly to thrash out some issues that might crop up.

Preparatory meetings by senior officials get underway on Oct 23, followed by ministerial meetings and thereafter the summit proper between Oct 26-28.

In assessing Malaysia’s chairmanship and ASEAN’s progress to date, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz told Bernama ASEAN had made significant headway under the economic pillar through the implementation of 18 PEDS.

Anwar to hand over ASEAN Chairmanship to the Philippines

These initiatives would gather momentum as regional and world leaders are set to either endorse, agree to or ink landmark regional and bilateral agreements when Anwar chairs the last leg of the regional summit and that of dialogue partners for this year.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, would hand over the chairmanship to next year’s host – the Philippines on Oct 28, but has vowed Malaysia would continue to be at the forefront of issues confronting the 58-year old grouping.

Before passing the baton, he would have the honour of admitting Timor Leste as ASEAN’s 11th member.

The economic pillar stands out as the area where ASEAN has made the most progress, particularly in increasing trade and investment among themselves and with partners to make Southeast Asia a key competitive investment destination.

These landmark agreements ranging from pushing trade and including new sectors for economic cooperation to fostering region-wide digital connectivity and reducing non-tariff barriers, will offer increased business opportunities for large companies as well as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)

This ties in neatly with Malaysia’s tenure as ASEAN chair 2025 which carries the theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability”.

It goes without saying that any regional initiative must take into consideration the region’s 70 million MSMEs, accounting for between 97.2 per cent and 99.9 per cent of total establishments in ASEAN member states.

Focusing on large companies only means ASEAN trade growth will not reach its full potential.

The wide-ranging PEDs are also undoubtedly timely imperatives to deal with the adverse effects of higher costs from disruptions emanating from tariffs imposed by the United States, following the shock announcement in April.

Rather than retaliating, Anwar led the grouping in deciding not to retaliate against US President Donald Trump’s disruptive tariffs but infused a sense of urgency for Southeast Asia to integrate and engage Washington in a constructive dialogue to address tariff concerns.

It will be interesting to note the outcome of the ASEAN-US summit and whether regional leaders would be able to convince Trump to loosen tariffs to alleviate the disruptions to the ecosystem and to their costings.

It is against such a challenging scenario that ASEAN saw fit not only to push the PEDS, but clinch the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) with major trade partner China and ink the Digital Economic Framework Agreement (DEFA) which will facilitate increased transactions.

Time for ASEAN and others to lessen dependence on America

The message is relatively clear for ASEAN economies to lessen their dependence on the American market which has been a major export destination and diversify into other regions and markets.

To this end, the ASEAN-led summit of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is pivotal for Asian economies to seek greater trade to offset US tariffs.

During the upcoming summit, trade deals towards a more comprehensive economic partnership are also in the pipeline with India and possibly a commitment to take similar steps with other dialogue partners.

The EU is pursuing bilateral free trade agreements with individual ASEAN countries including Malaysia.

Against such a challenging backdrop to the rules-based multilateral trading order, the signing of the ATIGA and progress on the DEFA would be highlights at the summits next week, according to Tengku Zafrul.

Malaysia, as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen regional and global economic ties, is also scheduled to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea during the summit.

"We will be signing the FTA agreement between Malaysia and Korea during the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit," he said, elaborating that the agreement would bring benefits across all sectors.

The summit with China would also be pivotal for Southeast Asian economies to convince Beijing to open up its huge market as ASEAN suffers a major trade deficit with China to the tune of a staggering US$190 billion reportedly in 2023.

Some analysts opine that ASEAN must demand reciprocal market access from major trading partners such as China and the EU.

Universiti Teknologi MARA’s senior fellow at the Centre for Media and Information Warfare Studies, Dr Noor Nirwandy Mat Noordin, had said in July that US tariffs should serve as a wake-up call for ASEAN to act more decisively as a bloc to garner increased access to lucrative markets.

Historic ASEAN-GCC-China Summit 

"During the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting, we will be announcing the successes in finalising many of these 18 PEDs," Tengku Zafrul said, citing the ATIGA and ASEAN-China FTA as examples as well as the agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries which is the first PED to be completed.

Noteworthy here is Anwar’s ability to chair the historic ASEAN-CGC-China summit in May which heralded a new chapter in strategic cooperation and reshaping linkages amid the realities of what is surely a multipolar world.

Tengku Zafrul said ASEAN is also in the final stages of concluding the substantive elements of DEFA, which will serve as a foundation for a more connected and inclusive regional digital economy.

He also confirmed that the Reciprocal Trade Agreement would be signed between Malaysia and the US next week.

The US negotiation team had been in Malaysia since last week to finalise the agreement following the consensus reached between Anwar and Trump via a recent phone call.

Besides this, Malaysia will hold discussions with the US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick next week on sectoral tariffs.

The outcome of the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits is crucial to determine the path regional economies, dialogue partners, superpowers and majors pursue to maximise growth and achieve shared prosperity.

-- BERNAMA