Economic Diplomacy A New Responsibility For Malaysia's Heads Of Missions – Mohamad Hasan

KUALA LUMPUR, 24 Feb (Bernama) — Economic diplomacy has now become part of the new responsibilities of Malaysia's heads of missions worldwide, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

He said since last year, he has reminded staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or Wisma Putra, that beyond their core duties of fostering and strengthening bilateral and multilateral relations, Malaysia's true strength and foundation lie in its economy.

“Like it or not, Wisma Putra or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must adopt an economic policy. Economic foreign policy must be our (Wisma Putra’s) second pillar,” he told reporters at the ‘Santai Teh Tarik’ session at the Concorde Club here today.

Also present at the event was the Chairman of Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai.

According to Mohamad, through economic diplomacy, Malaysia’s representatives in countries with Malaysian embassies worldwide will not only maintain bilateral relations but also focus on strengthening bilateral and multilateral economic ties between Malaysia and those countries.

“Multilateral relations include Malaysia’s ties with the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). Bilateral relations, on the other hand, are between Malaysia and an individual country,” he stated.

“A new responsibility has been added for Malaysia’s heads of missions, who are senior government officials. Many of Malaysia’s ambassadors hold positions at the Jawatan Utama Sektor Awam (JUSA) A level or at least JUSA C,” he added.

“We want Malaysia’s ambassadors to act as key facilitators in expanding the country's market reach. As I stated in Parliament, we cannot afford to remain dependent on traditional markets.” 

He said Malaysia must diversify its markets to ensure that Malaysian goods can be sold and traded in every corner of the world.

Mohamad said that relying too heavily on a single traditional market could put Malaysia in a difficult position if anything were to happen to that country.

He also mentioned that economic factor is the driving force behind Malaysia’s interest in joining BRICS, as well as ASEAN-GCC, ASEAN-AU, and ASEAN-Central Asia.

-- BERNAMA