Asean Can Expand Intra-Trade Via EV Industry - Tg Zafrul

According to Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, collaborations in the electric vehicle (EV) industry can help ASEAN increase intra-trade.

He stated that the EV industry allows member countries to collaborate and participate in the EV supply chain ecosystem.

“ASEAN has a population of over 680 million, or approximately 8.5 per cent of the total global population.

“As the fifth largest economic bloc in the world with a combined gross domestic product of US$3.2 trillion, I believe Malaysia, along with ten other ASEAN member states and the organisation as a whole, can win this game,“ he told Bernama.

From 2018 to March 2023, Malaysia's EV industry received RM26.2 billion ringgit (US$5.4 billion), and the number of registered EVs increased to more than 7,500 units as of September 2023, up from over 3,400 last year.

According to reports, ASEAN attracted US$2.1 billion in EV-related investments in 2019, with the figure expected to rise to US$5.5 billion in 2020.

EV investment inflows in ASEAN then fell to $2.7 billion in 2021, before increasing to $18.1 billion the following year in Southeast Asia's e-mobility sector.