Warm ties: Liow speaking on regional cooperation at the Asian Political Parties’ Special Conference on the Silk Road in Beijing, China.
BEIJING: The Pan-Asian Railway linking Kunming to Singapore has received a much-needed boost with the introduction of the Belt and Road initiative.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said this network of railways had been discussed for many years, but the countries involved did not push for its rapid implementation until China’s proposal of the new Silk Road came along.
“We can clearly see that the countries have more confidence on this proposal and are now determined to complete this railway project.
“Once completed, the Pan-Asian Railway will help all countries to grow economically,” he said.
Liow, who is also MCA president, was in Beijing to attend the Asian Political Parties’ Special Conference on the Silk Road.
The Belt and Road – land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and ocean-going 21st century Maritime Silk Road – is a framework put forth by Chinese President Xi Jinping to foster connectivity and cooperation among countries along the route.
A Silk Road Fund and an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have been set up to support infrastructure development.
Liow said the Belt and Road, together with the network of Asean Economic Community, would contribute significantly to economic integration and regional cooperation.
He added that Malaysia, as the chair of Asean this year, wanted to build meaningful and long-lasting economic relationships not only in the region, but also across various economic groupings such as the Asean+3, Asean+6 as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
To advance economic cooperation between south-east and north-east Asia, Liow said logistics and port cooperation was among the key areas to be given attention to.
“Logistics and infrastructure development will not only spur trade, but will also bring about enormous spillover benefits and spin-off opportunities, opening up new avenues of growth in a vast number of industries and other ancillary sectors across the value chain, from tourism, trade and investment to engineering and communications, to the SME industry, entrepreneurship and talent development,” he said.
Liow also called upon all countries to draw up concrete plans to enrich the content of Belt and Road, instead of just voicing their verbal support for the ambitious plan.
Elaborating on the concept of policy coordination, which was one of the five aspects of connectivity championed by the Belt and Road, Liow told reporters later that countries should draw up policies to enable participation of foreign partners in respective sectors.
Malaysia, for instance, allowed 40% of foreign equity ownership in ports, a new approach in order for the country to benefit from the Silk and Road initiative.
Another example was the “friendly state and province” status between Malacca and Guangdong.
“We did not have a foreign policy to establish such a relationship between a state and province in the past.
“But because of the Silk Road initiative, the Cabinet gave its special approval after a detailed discussion. This will encourage investment in Malacca,” he said.
The three-day event, which ended yesterday, was attended by representatives of more than 60 political parties and organisations from some 30 countries.
The International Conference of Asian Political Parties’ standing committee endorsed the declaration of the “Beijing Initiative”, rendering its support for the Belt and Road strategy that is built upon the spirit of peace, harmony, cooperation, openness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.
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