Asean foreign, economic ministers must unite in facing tariff threat, says Anwar

The Star

Asean foreign ministers and economic ministers must work closely together in facing new challenges brought about in a changing international geopolitical and economic landscape in the world, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.   Anwar during his opening remarks around the 58th Asean Foreign Ministers (AMM) meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday (July 9) said   Asean is now being confronted with a new reality, where trade barriers such as tariffs are used as an instrument for geopolitical rivalry.   Read more at https://tinyurl.com/3swd2b5z   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00Power has always shaped trade, but today it increasingly defines it.

00:06Across the world, tools used, once used, to generate growth are now wielded to pressure, isolate, and contain.

00:16Tariffs, export restrictions, and investment barriers have now become the sharpened instruments of geopolitical rivalry.

00:27This is no passing storm. It is a new weather of our time.

00:33Now ASEAN must confront this reality with clarity and conviction.

00:38We must read the landscape clinically, speak with coherence, act with foresight.

00:45Our cohesion must not end at declarations.

00:49It must be built into our institutions, our strategies, and our economic decisions.

00:55I therefore urge even closer alignment between ASEAN's foreign and economic policy tracks.

01:05Our foreign and economic ministers must move in concert in facing challenges.

01:12This imperative is fully aligned with ASEAN's Vision 2045, which calls for greater synergy across pillars and sectors.

01:22We must build habits of coordination that match the realities we confront.

01:29And as we navigate external pressures, we need to fortify our internal foundations, trade among ourselves, invest more in one another,

01:40and advance integration across sectors with resolve.

01:44To build a stronger, more connected ASEAN economy is a strategic imperative that will anchor our relevance and resilience for decades to come.

01:56We must also reject the idea that the world can be carved into spheres of influence,

02:02and that decisions about our region can be made elsewhere.

02:06We are a region that charts its own costs deliberately, coherently, and with purpose.

02:16ASEAN will not be spoken for in absentia.

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