KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Malaysia sees the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) evolving beyond a bilateral or regional framework into a platform for ASEAN-China partnerships to jointly expand into third markets, including Africa and Europe.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority chairman Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the initiative could provide a springboard for regional collaboration, not only between China and individual ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, but also for joint ventures targeting other countries within and outside the BRI framework.

“BRI can also serve as a platform for partnerships extending to Africa or Europe.

“These are areas where we can expand the partnership as we start bilaterally within China and Indonesia, or China and Malaysia, or China, Malaysia, Indonesia, going to another country in ASEAN,” he said at the China Conference: Southeast Asia 2026 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

For Malaysia, Tengku Zafrul said the government continues to focus on attracting investments into the country while supporting Malaysian companies to venture abroad, with BRI serving as a potential platform for strategic expansions.

On Malaysia-Indonesia business-to-business relations, he said the two countries can move to the next level, where it is no longer just Malaysia investing alone, but both nations working and exploring opportunities in other markets.

“Malaysian companies have long heavily invested in Indonesia across sectors such as banking and the telecommunications industry, driven by trust in Indonesia’s long-term economic growth and demographic potential.

“Recently, there was even an announcement for the first time in the telecommunication industry where two big telco companies merged, Malaysia and Indonesia’s,” he highlighted.

This shows that Malaysia and Indonesia can move to the next level and work with other markets, he said, adding that both have unique strengths and yet complement each other in many ways. — Bernama