Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said he acknowledges the Vision 2020 policy introduced by Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a national vision and is committed to achieving it.

“I would like to stress that although Vision 2020 was the brainchild of Mahathir, we have accepted it as a national vision and whoever succeeds him is committed to achieving Vision 2020,” he said.

The premier, who in the Senate this morning, was replying an additional question by Muhamad Yusof Husin.       

Muhamad had asked whether the country will become a fully developed nation by 2020, with only 10 years to go.

mahathir ikmal presidential lecture 290410 Highlighting Mahathir’s past criticism that the current economic growth rate might impede the achievement of Vision 2020 goals, Muhamad asked if the government would consult the former premier who had administered the country for 22 years.

Mahathir had said in a talk show (‘Forum RMK-10 Kita’) that Malaysia can achieve Vision 2020 if several development and economic strategies are changed.

Mahathir added that he is no longer the prime minister but said he would give advice if it was sought.

The vision mooted in 1991 is said to be facing difficulties because of the world financial crisis,while the internal crises in 1997 and 1998 had to a certain extent hindered economic growth as planned.

NONE To this, Najib said “the government has to take into account the internal and external factors to achieve the status of a high income nation”.

“If the external factors are weak, for example in 2009 with the global recession, it is hard to achieve high growth but this year, the internal and external factors are strong.

“That is why we predicted that we can achieve 6 percent economic growth and if this is done every year until 2020, we can achieve the high income nation status,” said Najib, who is also the Finance Minister.

However, if another global financial crisis were to hit, then it might hinder Malaysia from achieving its goals, he added.