KUALA LUMPUR: The Asia-Pacific region can only achieve prosperity through openness, integration and resilience according to Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia chairman Datuk Prof Dr Mohd Faiz Abdullah.
He warned that protectionism and isolation threaten to weaken the region’s position as the “heartbeat of global prosperity” despite its status as the world’s most dynamic growth engine.
“Rather regrettably, protectionist measures such as tethers and export bans have become prominent features of our current trade landscape,“ he stated during the Boao Forum for Asia’s Kuala Lumpur Roundtable on Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation.
Mohd Faiz emphasized that these challenges represent structural shifts rather than temporary difficulties testing regional cohesion and resilience.
“Prosperity has never been achieved through isolation,“ he asserted, adding that “It was openness, integration and connectivity that brought strength and opportunity to the Asia-Pacific.”
He highlighted the urgent need to defend multilateralism and modernize global trade frameworks through World Trade Organization reforms.
“Reform of the WTO is essential more than ever if it is to regain credibility as an important and impartial empire of global trade,“ Mohd Faiz explained.
The academic leader also stressed the importance of strengthening regional agreements including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
He noted that these agreements “must evolve to incorporate digital trade, data governance and climate alliance standards” to remain relevant.
Mohd Faiz described connectivity as “the lifeline of integration” requiring comprehensive understanding beyond physical infrastructure.
“Physical networks such as ports, grids, transport systems are of course vital, but so too are digital highways that ensure secure data flows and human networks that enable skills negotiation, skills recognition, academic exchanges and labour mobility,“ he elaborated.
He concluded with a powerful call for Asia-Pacific nations to commit to building a shared future through strengthened cooperation.
“Openness, connectivity and resilience, these are not abstract ideas,“ Mohd Faiz stated, adding that “They are the very lifelines of Asia-Pacific integration.”
He warned that weakening these principles would cause universal suffering while strengthening them would ensure regional thriving.
“We must therefore choose to build it, not to break it, so that Asia-Pacific remains the very heartbeat of global prosperity,“ he affirmed. – Bernama