NAY PYI TAW (Myanmar), May 11 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today proposed that the Asean Secretariat fund is strengthened in tandem with the declaration of the institution as a community starting next year.
“In Malaysia’s view, the Asean Secretariat is not funded with the kind of funds that reflects our desire to turn it into a community,” he told Malaysian journalists after attending the 24th Asean Summit here.
The prime minister tabled the proposal when attending the 24th Asean summit plenary session.
Najib said it was vital that the funds for activities, operational costs and Asean service scheme could be raised to attract more workforce that were more competent.
Currently each member state contributed US$1.7 million (RM5.4 million) for the management of the secretariat.
During the summit, Najib also stressed on the importance of ensuring the Asean concept as an economic community becomes a reality as there were still several aspects that had yet to be seen.
Among them were to ensure that the domestic regulation was in line with Asean’s intention to lower tariffs and avoid non tariff barriers that were the main obstacles for Asean to achieve economic community.
“Any protectionist measures are in conflict with our desire to become a more competitive Asean,” he said.
He said Asean needed to strengthen its political will, especially in the ensuring a consistency in the domestic regulation and resolving negotiations on the service agreements in the near future.
“Even though a lot have been achieved, there are some that have yet to be settled. We emphasise on the commitment of all countries involved,” he added. — Bernama
