Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE MALACANANG PALACE,
MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Tarikh/Date : 03/02/94
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL DINNER HOSTED BY H.E.
FIDEL RAMOS PRESIDENT OF THE
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
Your Excellency President Fidel Ramos and Madam Amelita
Ramos;
Honourable Secretaries and Ministers;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
May I first of all thank Your Excellency and your
Government for the very warm welcome and generous
hospitality accorded to my wife and I, and members of my
delegation. We are indeed very happy to be here in the
Philippines and see for ourselves the dynamic changes that
are taking place in this beautiful country under Your
Excellency's leadership. I am also particularly pleased to
be able to meet you again and to renew our friendship.
Your Excellency,
2. The government and people of Malaysia recall with
fondness your visit to our country last year during which
you demonstrated your firm desire to enhance bilateral
relations with Malaysia and pledged your commitment to seek
a national consensus to resolve the Sabah issue.
3. The new approach in our relations that you had
advocated and which we shared had helped to contribute
towards greater trust and understanding between our two
countries. The optimism spawned by your visit rekindles the
hope and vision of close and brotherly relations with active
political, economic and social interaction between our two
peoples. Indeed, this is the way it should be between two
neighbouring countries that are linked, since time
immemorial, by a common culture and tradition. It is with
this hope and vision in mind that I have embarked on this
journey to your country to return Your Excellency's visit to
Malaysia in January 1993.
4. Our meeting this afternoon, during which we discussed
issues of common concern and reviewed the progress of
bilateral relations since your visit to Kuala Lumpur last
year, revealed yet again how much our views and aspirations
coincide. It reaffirmed our faith that in you and your
government we Malaysians have a friend and partner whom we
can work with to bring relations between our two countries
to even greater height. I feel gratified that all the
agreements reached in Kuala Lumpur are being seriously
looked into by officials of our two countries and progress
has been made in many areas of cooperation. The Joint
Commission has been established and has successfully met
here in Manila last December, resulting in a broad range of
agreements to cooperate in the field of agriculture, trade
and investment.
5. Worthy of special mention is the agreement to enter
into a border crossing arrangement along the common border
between Malaysia and the Philippines in order to combat
illegal entry, smuggling and piracy.
Your Excellency,
6. It is also a matter of great satisfaction to me that
there has been a considerable increase of Malaysian
investment in the Philippines. Your visit to Malaysia has
contributed immensely towards this development. Several
Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between
Malaysian entrepreneurs and their counterparts in the
Philippines. A few major Malaysian corporations have
already established their presence in this country. Many
others have shown similar interest, as manifested by the
number of Malaysian businessmen, entrepreneurs and corporate
figures that have joined me in this visit. I am confident
that their meetings with members of the Philippine
Administration as well as their interaction with their
Filipino counterparts will result in greater awareness of
the economic opportunities available in this country and
hopefully will lead to concrete business deals in due
course. As Malaysians are encouraged to seek business
opportunities in the Philippines through trade and
investment, Filipino entrepreneurs and businessmen are
welcome to do likewise in Malaysia where opportunities
abound due to its rapid industrial development.
7. In a world where the globalisation of industries is
moving ahead at a rapid pace the Government has urged the
Malaysian private sector to look outward and to invest
overseas as well as forge strategic alliances with overseas
partners in order to maintain their competitive edge. Today
in your presence, Mr. President, I would like to repeat that
call with a specific request to look at the Philippine
private sector as a strategic alliance partner whose
entrepreneurial skills are as renowned as any. Such a
partnership means more than just a business necessity; it
also adds meaning and substance to ASEAN cooperation that
both our countries so firmly support.
8. Malaysia, since 1988, has been the second leading
ASEAN trade partner for the Philippines. But the total
bilateral trade, averaging RM1.3 billion annually, is still
small. Both countries can take the necessary steps to
expand and increase the volume of bilateral trade. There
are many products which we can sell to and buy from each
other. We can also cooperate in jointly producing items and
components destined not only for each other's markets but
also markets elsewhere. To encourage investments, we should
conclude a bilateral Investment Guarantee Agreements as soon
as possible.
9. Malaysia is ready to exchange developmental experience
with the Philippines. We can do this through the Malaysian
Technical Cooperation Programme, which the Phillipines have
availed in the past. There are many areas in which our
experiences may prove useful. We see the potential for both
countries to cooperate in various fields such as
agriculture, tourism, transport and science and technology.
We can certainly learn a lot from each other.
Your Excellency,
10. On the international plane, the emergence of powerful
economic groupings that promote specific regional interests
is a matter of great concern to Malaysia. We strongly
believe in the maintenance and enhancement of free trade
globally. We are against discriminatory measures aimed only
to protect specific interests at the expense of the small
and economically weak nations. The successful conclusion of
the Uruguay Round has given some hope for a better global
trading environment. But we must remember that we are
economically weak still. Level playing fields which the big
nations talk so much about are quite meaningless when the
contest is between giants and midgets. GATT must take this
into consideration when enforcing its rules on weak nations.
11. The establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA),
and the creation of growth areas at the sub-regional level
are certainly some of the positive steps towards enhancing
and strengthening economic cooperation and expanding trade
within our own region. In this regard, Malaysia welcomes
the creation of the East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA) which Your
Excellency has initiated and tirelessly promoted. I am
confident that with the full cooperation of both the
governments and private sectors of the countries concerned,
the EAGA will contribute positively towards the further
development of the region at large.
12. The East Asian region is by far the most economically
dynamic region in the world today. This trend will continue
as we move into the twenty-first century. Growth rates in
this region averaged 7.8 percent in the last decade. The
East Asian experience is certainly the envy of others. The
East Asian countries must have a forum to consult each other
on issues of interest to them. It is for this reason that
the East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC) should be formed. The
EAEC should be the consultative forum for the countries of
East Asia to exchange views on various issues of common
concern. I wish to reiterate here that Malaysia does not
envisage the EAEC as an economic bloc. It is never intended
to be one in the first place. I hope that Malaysia and the
Philippines can work closely together with the other
countries in the region to ensure that the EAEC becomes
operational as early as possible. It will help the less
developed countries in East Asia to learn from the
experience of the successful ones. More than that the EAEC
can actually initiate cross investments which can accelerate
development and expedite technology transfer. An East Asian
Crescent of Prosperity can then emerge and act as the
locomotive of growth for the rest of the world.
Your Excellency,
13. Before I conclude, I should like to take this
opportunity to once again thank you and Madam Ramos for the
very friendly reception and gracious hospitality accorded to
my wife and I, as well as to the other members of my
delegation. We feel very much at home here in the
Philippines. We hope to meet more friends here in Manila
and in the important and popular regions of your beautiful
country which we will also visit. As the Malay saying goes,
'Tak kenal maka tak cinta'. It means that one will not love
if one does not know each other. Your visit to Malaysia has
helped to rekindle the interest for Malaysia and the
Philippines to know more about one another. There is now a
genuine interest to rediscover commonalities on both sides.
It is my sincere hope that with my visit, the peoples of
Malaysia and the Philippines will continue to get to know
more of each other, to cooperate and to eventually resolve
our problems for the sake of our common future and the
future of the region.
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