FOURTEEN countries have signed the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), with Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz saying it was vital to send a strong message on its tangible benefits.

He said this after the signing ceremony in San Francisco on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

The 14 countries are Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

The IPEF, which comprises the pillars of trade, supply chain, clean energy and fair economy, will see four agreements for each pillar.

“Not only did we conclude and sign this first-of-its-kind agreement, but we accomplished this in record time and will potentially have it enter into force in record time as well,” Tengku Zafrul said.

“While we certainly deserve to celebrate all these accomplishments, it is also time to step on the gas pedal and move to the next phase – the implementation of all we have negotiated and agreed upon.

“Malaysia is cognisant of due processes required before we can sign and ratify the Pillar 3 and Pillar 4 agreements,” he said

Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia could begin preparing the implementation mechanism.

He registered Malaysia’s appreciation to Australia for its initiative to kickstart the capacity-building work with the “IPEF Supply Chain Crisis Tabletop Exercise”, conducted on the sidelines of the recent Kuala Lumpur round.

The minister said the exercises were critical for assessing the readiness of partners in dealing with crises.

Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia welcomed the proposed annual IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum, with the first meeting scheduled in the first half of 2024.

He said Malaysia has always emphasised the importance of energy transition financing, the adoption of climate technologies, and investment in climate-resilient infrastructure and initiatives.

“The increasing climate-related disasters globally are clear indications of the existential threat faced by the more vulnerable developing partners.

“Malaysia would like to propose we explore appropriate funding mechanisms to implement climate infrastructure projects, which could include multilateral financial institutions,” he said.

The focus on innovative clean technologies, including carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), would play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the IPEF region, he said.

He said although the CCUS has been identified as a potential technology for removing GHG under Pillar 3, there has been limited work done in cross-border storage.

“Malaysia would like to encourage work in establishing an internationally recognised governance and accounting framework to enable this.

“I am optimistic we can carry out our work and maintain the same momentum and tenacity demonstrated in the past year when negotiating the Pillar 2 agreement,” he said. – Bernama, November 16, 2023.