Mr. Francis Wong
Chairman of Australia-ASEAN Business Forum
H.E. Antonio Morales
The Philippines Ambassador to ASEAN
Her Excellency Tiffany McDonald
Ambassador of Australia to ASEAN
Excellencies,
Members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives and Ambassadors of ASEAN to Australia and Ambassador of Timor-Leste to ASEAN
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
I am deeply honoured to be given this privilege of speaking to you today at this Australia-ASEAN Business Forum in this beautiful city of Adelaide.
Indeed this forum is significant in that over the past two days it has brought together key industry players, business champions as well as policy makers, and provided them the platform for robust exchange of ideas on diverse issues towards enhancing collaboration, investment, and innovation in key sectors critical to sustainable growth. I am pleased to learn that several initiatives were also announced and established at this Forum that are targeted at building a more inclusive and collaborative future between ASEAN and Australia.
As the Chair of ASEAN this year, allow me to share with you some information on Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship which is guided by the theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability”. This theme reflects our commitment to shared progress, ensuring that no one is left behind. The theme underscores ASEAN’s commitment towards strengthening regional peace, stability and prosperity within an inclusive, sustainable and future-oriented framework.
Malaysia has identified three main priorities under this Chairmanship. Firstly, to strengthen regional peace, stability, and security by promoting strategic trust among nations. Secondly, to intensify efforts to strengthen economic integration. This includes deepening economic cooperation with external partners such as Australia. Thirdly, is to mainstream inclusivity and sustainability which will involve greater efforts to narrow the development gap, overcome inequalities and improve living standards to foster development, growth, and prosperity for the benefit of all.
Over the past 8 months of Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship, ASEAN has achieved several significant milestones which include the adoption of ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future during the 46th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur in May and the adoption of several new Plans of Actions (POAs) with ASEAN Dialogue Partners last month.
The ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future will serve as the new roadmap for ASEAN Community-building over the next two decades. This vision seeks to build a more peaceful, resilient, competitive, and inclusive ASEAN that is able to navigate global uncertainties while remaining united at its core. In this regard, we see great potential in furthering and strengthening the cooperation that exists between ASEAN and Australia to enable us to manage and overcome geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges for our mutual benefit. We must heighten efforts to develop new initiatives for economic collaboration in areas such as green energy, digital economy as well as develop resilient supply chains. We must work harder at implementing strategies that boost trade and investment flows and simultaneously give focus to our human capital development as we nurture future changemakers. These are catalyst for sustainable development and shared prosperity for both ASEAN and Australia.
Ladies & Gentlemen
51 years ago, Australia became the very first ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1974. Since then, ASEAN-Australia Dialogue Relations have evolved to a wide range of cooperation across the three ASEAN Community Pillars. Under the ambit of the economic pillar, ASEAN is committed to pursuing and furthering economic cooperation with Australia, to unlock new opportunities for trade, investment, and sustainable growth. As of July 2025, based on the statistics by the ASEAN Secretariat, the total two-way trade between Australia and ASEAN reached USD 96.27 billion. Australia’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow to ASEAN accounted for USD 2.4 billion. This Forum and its positive turn out gives us hope that the connections established at this Forum between ASEAN and Australia will result in even more promising outcomes and raise these statistics. Rest assured ASEAN is committed to working closely with Australia.
In facing today’s global economic headwinds, it is imperative that we focus our energy towards building a more integrated and resilient ASEAN-Australia economy. ASEAN is home to a vast and vibrant market of close to 700 million people. The potential is undeniably huge, but to realise it fully, ASEAN must narrow the existing development gap and forge stronger, more equitable economic linkages across Member States and also Dialogue Partners.
ASEAN and Australia share the common value of active engagements by both sides through the AEM-Closer Economic Relations (CER) together with New Zealand. The long-standing ASEAN-CER relationship established over 30 years ago has not only signified the importance of closer cooperation but also the mutual interest and commitment to our regional economic integration. For instance, ASEAN-CER through the ASEAN Australia Digital Trade Standards (DTS) Initiative has increased digital trade with greater implementation of digital trade standards by ASEAN Member States.
ASEAN highly values the unwavering support of Australia in providing various capacity building and education programmes through centres of excellence in sectors such as cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, clean energy and STEM. They have proven to be instrumental in building ASEAN’s expertise. This synergy between ASEAN and Australia will be sustained as we venture into collaborative initiatives and opportunities for new areas of cooperation to advance our shared interests.
In navigating the current global dynamics, ASEAN and Australia must jointly work and collaborate to further promote closer economic integration. In this regard, the upgraded ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA is aimed at deepening and broadening our economic integration to bolster more robust and resilient supply chains and keep markets open for trade and investment, enabling our business communities to continue to grow and flourish. Malaysia, through its ASEAN Chairmanship aims to advance ASEAN’s interest and economic goals through the implementation and completion of our Priority Economic Deliverables.
Ladies & Gentlemen
We are optimistic that ASEAN’s agenda will continue to be advanced. Malaysia is confident that the initiatives under our chairmanship year will further broaden the benefits of trade, improve inclusiveness and foster forward-looking regional trade architecture.
At the 47th ASEAN Summit this October in Kuala Lumpur, we will once again demonstrate our collective commitment towards improving the unimpeded flow of goods within our region. Through renewed efforts to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers, we are taking meaningful steps towards creating a more seamless and dynamic ASEAN economic community that works for all.
Before I conclude I would like to take this opportunity to commend Mr. Francis Wong and his team of organisers for their hard work and steadfastness of delivering a successful Australia-ASEAN Business Forum with tangible outcomes.
As I conclude Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Australian Government for the opportunity provided to us; the Committee of the Permanent Representatives to ASEAN to take part in this Forum as part of our Working Visit to Australia. It has been an enriching experience and I hope that the discussions we have had over the course of this visit are beneficial takeaways.
Let us chart a path forward to strive and strengthen ASEAN-Australia relations.
I wish you a pleasant evening ahead. Thank you.