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Thank you for coming today. Malaysia is my second stop on an extended trip through East Asia. I met and will meet today with senior economic officials as well as members of the Malaysian and international business community. What I told them, and what I will emphasize throughout this trip, is that the United States remains committed to East Asia. Our relationships here are deep and strong and we will continue to maintain these critical partnerships.
The past few years have been very good ones for the world economy, with high and widespread growth and low inflation. Economies in East Asia have made a very large contribution to this good performance. In my meetings with government officials I congratulated them on the sound monetary and fiscal policies that have underpinned Malaysia's growth.
I encourage Malaysia to continue with structural reforms, improvements to the investment climate and strengthening of the financial services sector. One important way that Malaysia can continue to strengthen its financial services sector is through increased foreign participation. It is essential that Malaysia continue the opening of this market in the context of the ongoing Doha trade round.
The trade relationship between our two countries is deep: the U.S. has been Malaysia's top trade partner since 1999 and Malaysia is the tenth largest trade partner for the U.S. I look forward to discussing ways to provide new trade opportunities that will benefit both the U.S. and Malaysia.
I am also here to discuss the July 21 changes to the Malaysian exchange rate regime and the contributions that exchange rate policy could make to sustaining future growth. While recognizing the value of a stable exchange rate for a highly open economy like Malaysia,
I believe that greater exchange rate flexibility under the new regime would help Malaysia adjust to changes in the world economy and help ensure continued economic growth.
We at U.S. Treasury feel strongly that continuing to open the doors to vibrant trade relations, as well as ensuring the free flow of capital and market-based exchange rates, are the keys to strong global growth.
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