Malaysia calls for reform of international financial system, multilateral trade

NEW YORK: Malaysia has called for reforms to international financial institutions and a more effective multilateral trading system for developing countries.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said developing countries needed to play a meaningful role in shaping the future direction of these systems.

"Malaysia calls for reforms to international financial institutions, a more effective multilateral trading system, stronger climate action and closer cooperation in science, technology and innovation, including information and communications technology and next-generation artificial intelligence," he said.

He said this in his intervention speech at the Group of 77 and China Ministerial Meeting held in conjunction with the 81st United Nations General Assembly here today.

He also said that any reform of the UN system should strengthen its ability to meet the needs of member states, particularly developing countries.

He said Global South cooperation demonstrated that developing countries were not merely recipients of development solutions, but also strategic partners and contributors to global development.

"Malaysia's commitment to Global South cooperation is reflected through the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme, which supports capacity building, technical cooperation and the sharing of expertise among developing countries," he said.

Mohamad said emerging challenges such as climate change, development financing and rapid technological transformation needed to be addressed without creating new gaps to replace existing ones.