<article>Asean makes an attractive young market for foreign direct investments, according to Malaysian International Trade and Industry minister Mustapa Mohamed.</article>

Asean makes an attractive young market for foreign direct investments, according to Malaysian International Trade and Industry minister Mustapa Mohamed.
With over half of the population in the region under 40 years old, he noted that there are always more opportunities in a youthful population.
Speaking of the First Asean Malaysia Young Entrepreneurs Forum yesterday, Mustapa said youths are crucial in building Malaysia’s name and driving forward the objectives of the Asean region.
Among the key factors that will drive the region, he added, was the English Language.&#8221;English is an Asean language; it is important in order for businesses to succeed because it can help overcome language barriers,” he said.
He also emphasised on the importance of leveraging the services and knowledge of Malaysian Business Councils in Asean member countries, as these councils were led by Malaysian business leaders who have business experience in the relevant country.
<a href="http://www.maaye.org/" target="_blank">The Malaysian Association of Asean Youth Entrepreneurs (MAAYE)</a> was also launched at the forum. The association seeks to connect Malaysian entrepreneurs with other Asean entrepreneurs through official and regulated channels, to promote business skills, services and innovation.
It also targets to raise the awareness among young entrepreneurs about the Asean Economic Community (AEC) and promote business opportunities among member countries.MAAYE will work closely with its other Asean counterparts for this. Malaysia is the chairman of Asean for 2015, and Mustapa added that the objectives of that role is to further promote Asean and Malaysia on the international stage.
There are two priorities that Malaysia has to see to as chairman &#8211; the completion of AEC measures and the outlining of the economic vision for 2016 to 2015. Part of the initiatives in mind are forums to be held to explain trade opportunities present in other Asean countries, and to facilitate networking and idea-sharing among members.
The AEC’s key objective is to improve the business environment within Asean. Among the goals are to increase Asean’s attractiveness as an investment destination, promoting cross-border trade and investment within Asean leveraging on member countries’ strengths, provide inclusive business opportunities including for small and medium enterprises through Free Trade Agreements, and to build a foundation for resilient economy.
There are three pillars that make the Asean community &#8211; political-security, economic and socio-cultural. In Mustapa’s presentation at the forum, it was noted that the implementation of blueprints for all three pillars is targeted to be completed by the end of 2015.
The implementation of these blueprints will allow Asean to declare the region as an integrated community, his presentation materials stated.

"Asean’s youthful market attractive for FDI"

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