MITI’s Agility in Pivoting, Prioritising and Progressing APEC 2020

Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin chaired the first-ever fully virtual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM), joined by all 21 APEC Economic Leaders

Exactly 22 years ago, Malaysia hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum for the first time – under the shadow of the Asian financial crisis.

The economic crisis had affected some of the economies, including Malaysia in mid-1997 but the host was also battling with another issue internally – the Reformasi movement.

It was also a crucial period, as, in 1998, Kuala Lumpur also hosted the Commonwealth Games for the first time.

Regardless of the challenges regionally and domestically, Malaysia proved its agility as the Chair to host the 1998 APEC forum successfully. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) was ever-present to push forward the agenda and ensure everything was in place throughout the series of meetings.

The 1998 APEC meeting, participated for the first time by all 21 Economies including the new additions, Russia, Vietnam and Peru, was a resounding success based on the major recommendations and key decisions made.

The  APEC Economic Outlook was published in 1998 to intensify APEC’s efforts to address the social impact of the financial crisis.

That year, the Economies also reaffirmed their commitment to achieving APEC’s trade and investment liberalisation goals through the process of individual and collective actions. This is because the ministers viewed trade and investment liberalisation as important elements in restoring confidence in the region and in stimulating economic growth.

Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, holding up the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 document

Fast forward to today, Malaysia is hosting APEC for the second time – with the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused an economic downturn worldwide serving as the backdrop.

As economies shut their borders to manage the spread of the pandemic, Malaysia and MITI specifically had to pivot, prioritise and progress by hosting APEC virtually for the first time.

“Come what may, we’ll get things going,” said MITI Deputy Secretary-General, Mr Hairil Yahri Yaacob, also the Senior Officials’ Meeting Chair for APEC 2020, or SOM Chair, a key post in APEC context for any hosting Economy.

Leaders in virtual attendance at the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting 2020, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

“We learnt incredible lessons when we first hosted in 1998 and hosting APEC this year has taught us exponentially more. The challenges then and today are certainly different but we persevered then, and we will achieve even greater heights today. This is the testament of the sheer professionalism exhibited by every individual involved in hosting this historic forum.”

Hairil admitted it was no walk in the park. He and his team had to juggle between ensuring the APEC meetings went on smoothly while playing a crucial role in getting industries going when the government imposed the Movement Control Order in March.

“It was hectic without a doubt. We were all clocking in long hours, between APEC meetings and helping businesses out during the partial lockdown. There are so many industries and sectors to consider and the plight of each of them must be taken into account as they are all connected in the supply chain.”

Hairil added, despite several chaotic moments, his colleagues at MITI and those from the other ministries remained steadfast in their resolve in continuing with the hosting APEC 2020.

“Going virtual presented a whole new dimension of complexities but, it has been fun. We have had to learn many new things and we stayed true to the motto of pivoting, prioritising and progressing to make APEC 2020 a success,” he added.

APEC 2020 have concluded on 20 November 2020 when Malaysia organised the first virtual APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM), chaired by Prime Minister YAB Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Muhyiddin bin Haji Mohd Yassin. The AELM was attended by all APEC Economic Leaders such as New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, China’s President Xi Jinping, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States, Donald Trump. 

All smiles ... Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin exchanging thoughts with Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali

At the AELM, all APEC Economic Leaders have successfully adopted the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 and the Kuala Lumpur Declaration - the key deliverables for Malaysia this year. Malaysia takes pride in successfully architecting these documents, together with all the APEC Economies.  

In addition, Malaysia has successfully organised six Sectoral Ministerial Meetings namely Trade, Health, Finance, Women, SME and Food Security, which led to the issuance of seven Joint Ministerial Statements. This was the very first time in the history of APEC that all these ministerial-level meetings were convened in a fully virtual format.

Established in 1989, APEC was formed to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific region and aims to create greater prosperity by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and accelerating regional economic integration.

As a founding Member Economy of APEC, Malaysia has been particularly interested in other Economies’ best practices on structural and regulatory reforms.  APEC has also played a substantive role for Malaysia in our efforts and initiatives towards liberalising trade and investment. In this endeavour, Malaysia has always ensured that the initiatives are in line with our domestic pursuit to provide abundant opportunities for Malaysians, no matter what their socio-economic status is.