The current bleak global economic condition has spurred the government to work harder on trade agreement initiatives including the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) said.

Minister Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia as a trading nation is facing various external challenges as reflected by the projected growth of global trade this year of less than three per cent.

"In the last four years, global trade growth has been less than the global GDP growth, so it is even more important now to come up with an open market," he told reporters at the inaugural Asean Pathfinder Malaysia problem-solving clinic in Kuala Lumpur today.

Also present was Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and Performance Management Unit (Pemandu) chief executive officer Idris Jala.

Apart from the TPPA, Mustapa said Malaysia is also working on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) and Malaysia-European Union Free Trade Agreement (Malaysia-EU FTA).

The clinic for Malaysia-bound companies would serve as a model for Asean and set the tone for other problem-solving clinics to be held in other Asean markets, he said.

For the overall Asean Pathfinder project, he said about 100 companies have been selected from among the 10 Asean members to participate in a structured and direct government-to-government (G2G) problem-solving process at each Asean destination.

He said the engagements would be conducted in "clinic style" where each company would meet with relevant agencies individually and separately.

"A joint task force consisting of identified government officials from each Asean member state will help facilitate these engagements," he said.

He said that at the end of the process, action plans to remove trade and investment barriers faced by each pathfinder company would be documented, together with monitoring mechanisms to ensure accountability and implementation.

"By facing the issues head-on and dealing with them in a collaborative manner, we hope the process can generate ideas and help change mind-sets that can be translated into Asean's future policy framework and modes of operation," he added.

Mustapa urged participating parties to look beyond arbitrary borders and instead consider themselves as one, united by similarities in goals, values and aspirations.

"In short, we need to 'Transcend National, Embrace Regional'," he said.

He also urged the public sector to step up efforts to simplify processes and minimise red tape as well as exert greater efforts in learning from each other's mistakes and sharing best practices.

- Bernama