PETALING JAYA: As a diverse democratic nation, Malaysia can help Asean grow stronger as a key regional bloc when it fully takes over as its chair next year, and the United States is keen to extend support.

Malaysia is seen as a regional leader and the world has strong confidence in, as well as high expectations of, the country’s Asean chairmanship, notes US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel J. Kritenbrink.

"Malaysia is a regional leader, (we are) really excited about Malaysia's chair year in Asean in the coming year,” said Kritenbrink, who was in the country to attend the Sixth Malaysia-United States Senior Officials Dialogue in Putrajaya on Oct 21.

The dialogue was held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Comprehensive Partnership between Malaysia and the US.

The US had discussed the support it can render to Malaysia in its role as Asean chair next year, with three main pillars guiding the meeting's agenda: economic and trade, peace and security, and people-to-people ties.

"Malaysia is one of our key partners in the region; our whole policy is predicated on investing in the capacity of our partners like Malaysia.

“We talked a lot about how we can support Malaysia's Asean chair year. And then, in each of those pillars, we reflected on our successes, and the work we want to do going forward," Kritenbrink told The Star when met at the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 22.

Laos officially handed the Asean Chairmanship to Malaysia during the 44th and 45th Asean Summits in Vientiane on Oct 11. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim accepted the Asean Chair gavel from his Lao counterpart, Sonexay Siphandone.

Anwar had said that Malaysia’s chairmanship will begin a new chapter under the "Asean Community Vision 2045".

To a question on Malaysia's role in promoting regional stability and cooperation, Kritenbrink described Malaysia as a capable country which can lead Asean as an institution.

"Malaysia is a very capable country; we share a lot of values. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious democracy and has a highly advanced economy. It has long been a leader in the region.

"We believe that Asean, as an institution, is vital to the region's future. We (the US) work hard to build our bilateral partnerships with all the members of Asean including Malaysia. The institution itself, and the power of the Asean member states together are extraordinary.

"But it doesn't happen automatically, right? It requires good leadership. We are confident that Malaysia is going to be a great leader."

Kritenbrink added that among the items discussed during the dialogue in Putrajaya was Malaysia's goal to achieve a net zero carbon emission by 2050.

"We talked quite a bit on that. What we have been impressed by is that Malaysia has set quite an ambitious goal to achieve net zero (carbon) by 2050. We want to help support that. We talked a lot about how our economic cooperation and how American investment can contribute to Malaysia's clean energy transition,” he said.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/focus/2024/10/23/us-039malaysia-will-be-a-capable-asean-chair039