Anwar’s UAE Visit Paves Way For Expanded Economic Cooperation And Trade
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s successful second visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has resulted in strategic engagements aimed at strengthening ties and opening new avenues for collaboration between the two countries.
Chairman of Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Datuk Prof Dr Mohd Faiz Abdullah, said Anwar’s meetings, including with UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al Maktoum, underlined the importance of economic partnerships as the bedrock of deepening bilateral relations between Malaysia, a trading nation, and the UAE, which has been spearheading economic diversification in the fossil fuel-rich region over the past decade.
The visit was also Anwar’s first foreign visit as ASEAN Chair and his first for 2025.
Among highlights of this visit was the signing of the Malaysia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (MY-UAE CEPA), also Malaysia’s first Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member, symbolising a significant step forward in strengthening Malaysia-UAE relations and advancing economic partnerships with a key GCC member.
Mohd Faiz said the agreement is a significant milestone, ensuring immediate duty-free access for 6,331 product tariff lines, with prospects for expansion.
It extends benefits to key Malaysian exports such as crude palm oil, chemicals, plastics, electronics, jewellery, petroleum products, rubber-based goods, and processed foods over the next seven years.
The CEPA’s Islamic Chapter, meanwhile, paves the way for players in key sectors such as halal trade, Islamic finance, human capital development and the digital Islamic economy to expand and enhance their scope and dealings, giving a boost to cross-border data flows, e-commerce, co-operation in digital infrastructure, green technologies, and industrial development, he said.
“The big deal about these focal points is that they will generate more robust growth in bilateral trade and enhance investment flows, while prioritising support for SMEs, ultimately creating jobs and broadening access to UAE markets.
“Significantly, the agreement also prepares Putrajaya for the Malaysia-GCC Free Trade Agreement (MGFTA) negotiations, which are expected to begin in early 2025,” he added.
Mohd Faiz hailed the MoU to foster collaboration in artificial intelligence (AI) under the Malaysia MADANI Artificial Intelligence (MMAI) Initiative, as a turning point, as it promises to strengthen both nations’ commitment to harness cutting-edge technology to build safer and more secure communities.
He stated that this partnership captures the underlying philosophy of employing AI not just for business or organisational efficacy or even to enhance productivity, but to empower states to harness its transformative power for the greater good - protecting public safety across the broad and ensuring that we move ahead in advancing along the technology value chain, for peace and shared prosperity.
“This pursuit is also grounded in the practical aspects of deepening bilateral ties with both nations agreeing to leverage platforms such as the ASEAN-GCC Economic Forum to generate further public-private sector collaboration in AI aimed at bringing together regional players in policy, industry, and innovation to face the world’s daunting and increasingly complex challenges in these post-normal times,” he said.
On another note, Mohd Faiz said Anwar’s participation in a dialogue on ‘ASEAN's Interconnected Future: Linking Energy, Trade & Prosperity’ at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2025 demonstrated the MADANI government’s determination to not only increase “prosperity for the rakyat, but to get to the finishing line without costing us a habitable environment and climate”.
“These developments reflect Abu Dhabi’s keen desire to forge a deeper relationship with ASEAN, as is also evident in its status as ASEAN’s first Sectoral Dialogue Partner from the GCC as well as the signing of the UAE-Indonesia CEPA, which came into force in September 2023,” he said.
-- BERNAMA
