I recently led Malaysia’s delegation to the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), a biennial event which took place from Feb 26 to March 2 in the United Arab Emirates.
The MC13, which brought together nearly 4,000 officials and participants from WTO’s 164 members, was productive for Malaysia on a number of fronts.
The ensuing Abu Dhabi Ministerial Declaration will help grow our modern digital economy by continuing an existing moratorium on the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions for two years (that is, until the next ministerial meeting, the MC14).
This will facilitate Malaysia in attracting investment in data processing activities, advanced semiconductor manufacturing and software development.
The WTO has also committed to keep working on the appeal review mechanism of Dispute Settlement Reform by 2024.
