00:00You mentioned Nixian Malaysia is taking over ASEAN chairmanship, and you see this is a
00:05fruitful start to the Nixian meeting, so what do you say your top priorities are for specifically
00:11the logistics and connectivity in Southeast Asia?
00:14What we hope to achieve from this ASEAN meeting, especially when Malaysia becomes the chairman
00:21of ASEAN, is that we want to have a more integrated ASEAN.
00:25We look at integration is very important, and we want to have more economic integration,
00:30and to have more economic integration, logistics and transport plays a very important role.
00:35Because by having seamless connectivity, it will help trade to flows between ASEAN and
00:41within ASEAN.
00:42And this is, as I said, it's very important, especially with the current situation worldwide,
00:48we have to trade more within ourselves, and we have to utilise our position as a bloc.
00:54You know, when individual countries, we are limited as one country, but when we come
00:58together as a bloc, then we become a force to be reckoned with.
01:03As I mentioned, with 10 countries, almost 700 million population, then the rest of the
01:08world will look at us as a bloc, as an important part of the world.
01:13So we are beginning to see a lot of interest to ASEAN by EU, by China, by Korea, Japan,
01:22and even US.
01:24So in this meeting, for example, besides the traditional three partners that we have dialogues
01:29with, China, Japan and Korea, we also have dialogues with the EU Business Council, we
01:34also have luncheon with the US ASEAN Business Council.
01:39That means they look at ASEAN as a major market for them, and as a major economic bloc.
01:44That's why Malaysia will continue to play our role to ensure that more integrated ASEAN,
01:51and one of the pivotal role is that we must have better connectivity and cut down on barriers.
01:57Aviation wise, we have done well.
01:59I think aviation within ASEAN, we have done quite well.
02:02We have open skies policy.
02:04Right now, we have discussions about talking about ASEAN single market on aviation.
02:09That is, of course, still work still to be done.
02:12But what we are looking at is not only just aviation, maritime, for example, what we want
02:17to have more integrated and more connectivity maritime in terms of operations.
02:24We are talking about digitalization of our ports, so that ports can share information
02:28among each other to make our ports more competitive.
02:32Land transport, and especially rail, rail network is very important.
02:37There are missing links which have been rectified right now, especially between Laos and China.
02:44Because in ASEAN, there are a couple of landlocked countries, for example, Laos, Cambodia, Laos.
02:53In particular, Laos benefited from this connectivity.
02:57We want to connect them to China and to us, because Malaysia as a coastal country, the
03:06moment they connect to us, that is an important link to maritime.
03:10We have all the deep sea ports along the Straits of Malacca.
03:13So that is why Malaysia is very actively engaging with our partners, so that we can
03:19link up the entire, not the entire, but at least in the continental ASEAN member states
03:27like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and also China.
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