ASEAN to deepen trade investment with Britain

Trade and investment between Britain and ASEAN is expected to increase amid the turning euro zone sovereign debt crisis and unpredictable U.S. economy. In terms of exports, ASEAN was becoming an important market for Britain, according UK Trade and Investment chief executive Nick Baird. In addition, UK was targeting 1 trillion British pounds (US$1.59 trillion) in total exports by 2020 or more than 40% of export to gross domestic product. Plans are also afoot to double trade with each ASEAN country by 2015.

Total trade between UK and Malaysia stood at 4.38 billion pounds (US$7 billion) in 2011, up 8% from 2010. Exports from UK to Malaysia for the period of January-August 2012 totalled 996.5 million pounds (US$1.59 billion), an increase of 6.6% year-on-year. Malaysia is ranked the 33rd export market for Britain, an improvement from the 35th place in 2011.

A huge infrastructure programme would be developed to attract foreign investment, Nick Baird said. Noting that 40% of UK’s infrastructure is foreign owned, especially in transportation, energy and communication. Some of the major investing countries from the region into the UK are Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.