Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Saturday called on the East Asian business community to complement initiatives undertaken by their respective governments to enhance business linkages within the region.
Trade and industry associations in the region should also work to further enhance their networking, the prime minister said while opening the East Asia Business Exhibition here.
This could be facilitated through more frequent exchanges of trade and investment delegations as it would contribute to better understanding of the business environment and more frequent sharing of views and information, the prime minister said.
It would serve to "enhance awareness and facilitate closer business cooperation and discussions on issues of common interest as well as provide feedback to the governments," he said.
Last year, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) together with China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand accounted for 22.7 percent of world trade.
"This is no small achievement because it represents 24.2 percent of world exports and 21.2 percent of world imports," he said.
These countries also accounted for 22.6 percent of the world's gross domestic product in 2004, amounting to 9.2 trillion US dollars, according to the Malaysian prime minister.
Intra-regional trade for these countries has been growing faster than their trade with other regions.
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