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BUSINESS • 03/11/2026 12:27 PM

ASEAN DEFA To Open New Market Opportunities For Malaysian Companies

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- The ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), slated for signing this November, will offer Malaysian companies strong opportunities to sell and export their products across the 690 million-person ASEAN market.

Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Sim Tze Tzin said the government is encouraging local businesses to export their services across ASEAN, including to the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, particularly in sectors such as banking and information technology.

At the same time, we must also understand that other countries will also sell their products and services in Malaysia, resulting in greater competition from other ASEAN countries in our domestic market.

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“My advice to Malaysian companies, in the services and manufacturing sectors, is that we must embrace this development, move up the value chain, explore new markets and be bold in exporting our products and services,” he told reporters after the launch of the ASEAN International Fair for Trade in Services (AIFTIS) 2026, held in conjunction with the China-Malaysia Intelligent Industry Expo (CMIIE).

Meanwhile, Sim said Malaysia’s trade in services is expected to maintain its strong growth momentum in 2026, supported by data centre-related activities.

“In 2025, our total trade in services reached RM550.5 billion. Services exports grew by 15.6 per cent to RM277.9 billion, against imports of RM272.6 billion. This generated a trade surplus of RM5.3 billion, marking Malaysia’s first services trade surplus since 2011,” he said.

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Looking ahead, the deputy minister said Malaysia must deliberately build deeper domestic expertise, cultivate specialised technical talent and ensure the nation’s enterprises ascend into the highest tiers of complex, knowledge-based service activities.

“Malaysia cannot remain a passive market that merely consumes advanced technologies. We must be an ecosystem where cutting-edge technologies are critically evaluated, adapted, integrated and commercialised by Malaysian talent and enterprise for regional and global deployment,” he said.

Sim said Malaysia must pursue deeper regional integration, dismantle regulatory frictions, harmonise professional standards, build digital corridors, and enable talent to move freely across ASEAN and China.

Fragmented domestic markets cannot support the scale necessary to compete globally, he said.

“We must anchor our economies in high-value, high-complexity services. We must move up the value chain from basic transactional processes into high-margin engineering, complex data governance, applied artificial intelligence, intellectual property creation and strategic consultancy,” he added.

-- BERNAMA

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