IPEF upskilling initiative hailed for opportunities for women and girls

The government today said Malaysia had received the honour of being selected as one of two Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) partners to participate in the IPEF Upskilling Initiative, through which seven million training opportunities are made available to women and girls across the region to acquire digital skills that prepare them for high-quality jobs.

In a statement today, the international trade and industry ministry said the upskilling initiative, the first deliverable for IPEF, came about as a result of Malaysia’s proposal for the IPEF to offer tangible benefits to Malaysians through technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives.

“Additionally, Malaysia proposed a regional initiative as a possible solution for ensuring supply chain security, which would entail each country having a national stockpile of critical products of which the particular country has a comparative advantage relative to other trading partners,” it said.

Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali also suggested that Malaysia’s memorandum of cooperation with the US on semiconductor supply chain resilience signed earlier this year could be extended to regional platforms such as the IPEF.

He said the proposal was well received by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who commended it as an initiative that would help concretise gains.

Azmin, who attended the first high-level ministerial engagements on IPEF in Los Angeles from Sept 8 to 9, also engaged in bilateral meetings with his counterparts and held discussions with private sector representatives on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting.

The ministry said the discussions covered a wide range of subjects, including the latest developments in bilateral trade and investment, facilitating public-private sector collaboration as well as the expectations of the respective IPEF partners going forward.

Azmin said the engagements and exchanges would strengthen economic diplomacy between the US and other IPEF partners towards the shared goals of enhancing competitiveness, building economic resilience as well as realising the environmental, social, and corporate governance agenda collectively.

He said the 14 IPEF partners represent 40% of global gross domestic product and 28% of global goods and services trade.