Asean Business Advisory Council to focus on fostering regional deals, transactions and products, says chairman

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 — The Asean Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC) which Malaysia will chair next year will emphasise on generating increased regional deals, transactions and products in renewed efforts to foster regional economic integration, said its chairman, Tan Sri Nazir Razak.

Since Malaysia will chair the regional summit in 2025, it will drive the private secor agenda for Asean-BAC to ensure the 10-member states focus on transactions which benefit and bring the economies closer together, he said after the launch of the Asean Explorer Pass which is an annual travel pass here, today.

“Traditionally, Asean-BAC has been about policy changes and reforms (but) we want next year to be heavy on transactions and deals,” he said.

So, the launch of the Asean Explorer Pass today is a case in point of a regional product which will benefit travellers flying on AirAsia X and which comes under its auspices, he said, adding that “we have lined up many such deals.”

He also said that while Laos is the chair for this year’s series of Asean-BAC meetings and the summit in October, the Asean host was kind enough to allow Malaysia to host the 100th meeting of Asean-BAC in Kuala Lumpur.

Nazir said that Asean-BAC has been spearheading a lot of projects across Asean with physical meetings and business-to-business meetings being very useful.

For instance, he said there was an ongoing visit from a delegation of agriculture companies from the Philippines which have visited Kuala Lumpur Kepong, Sime Darby, Farm Fresh—Malaysia’s top companies in agriculture, as well as drone service provider Aerodyne, which can empower precision agriculture.

Nazir said that since its set up in 2003, Asean-BAC has been the main body to advise governments on business in the region (and) “we support anything and everything to do with business in Asean in areas such as trade, investment and business collaboration.”

Meanwhile, the Asean Explorer Pass product offers unlimited travelling for exploring Asean destinations, especially hidden gems in all corners of the region, beyond the popular destinations and the main Tier-1 cities.

The pass is available for global travellers and helps to promote Asean.

“We support all products that helps Asean, but this product is special because it’s not just a business product but also a product that will enhance travel across the region, promoting business travel, tourism travelling, so this product is perfectly aligned with what we do in Asean-BAC,” he added. — Bernama