KUALA LUMPUR — Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz is prepared to continue serving the government in any capacity that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sees fit as the International Trade & Investment Minister ends his ministerial duties today.
Tengku Zafrul, whose senatorship also ends this year, confirmed that discussions about his future role were raised in his last Cabinet meeting.
“There was a discussion in the Cabinet that the Prime Minister briefed. That was my last Cabinet meeting.
“I did talk to the prime minister before. I said that I’m willing to support in any capacity to support the government and the country, but I am not sure what the prime minister has decided,”
“The Prime Minister also mentioned yesterday that there will still be a role for me to support the government. We will wait for December 3,” he told a press conference after his Concorde Club session at Wisma Bernama today.
While Tengku Zafrul will wait for the Prime Minister to make an announcement regarding his future role, the BA of Malaysia (BAM) president has shifted his focus to the Sea Games, which he will be attending on December 14 to watch the national team fight their way to gold.
“I will be going to the Sea Games. I am going on a weekend where I am confident a few of our players will be in the finals playing for the gold medal. On Thursday, I will be sending off our players.”
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul addressed the discussions with China about a proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU), following concerns raised by Beijing over the wording of the US-Malaysia Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART).
“They don’t want to be in a position where we give preferential treatment to the US,” he said, explaining that China’s unease focused on potential “duplication” of commitments under the ART.
Malaysia provided clarifications both in Kuala Lumpur and will meet again in Beijing.
“It was not a statement that they don’t want to work with us. In fact, they want to work closer with us and make it more tangible,” Tengku Zafrul said.
He added that the discussions are still in the preliminary rounds, but the MoU would focus on improving investment flows between Malaysia and China, particularly among major companies and strategic sectors.
Tengku Zafrul said that as comprehensive strategic partners, both countries aim to elevate cooperation beyond existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) frameworks, including RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and the ASEAN-China FTA.
However, Tengku Zafrul said that 2025 has been a challenging year.
“It’s been a challenging year. To say it’s an exciting year is an understatement. On the ART, our conscience is clear. We did the best we can to protect our market access and the livelihoods of millions of Malaysians,” he said.
He also highlighted the importance of keeping Malaysian companies competitive amid global supply chain realignment.
“So this is where the other challenge is to ensure that Malaysian companies remain competitive as companies realign and redesign their supply chain. If we are not competitive enough, we will be out of that supply chain, so that I think is the other challenge that people don’t speak about but is equally important as the ART itself,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul also underscored the successful upgrade of the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA 3.0), calling it crucial given the scale of trade flows.
“It was important to complete that because China is Asean’s largest trading partner, and now Asean is also the largest trading partner for China. So we need to ensure that there is a bit more balanced trade for Asean with China, and we want better market access to China,” he said. – December 2, 2025