Malaysian Institute of Economic Research

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT: 2009

The year 2009 marked the twenty-fourth year of the Institute's operation. The Institute has been active in carrying out its mission as an economic think tank. Its activities have been made possible through the dedication of the Executive Director, staff members, associate research fellows and friends of the Institute. Despite its usual financial constraint, the Institute has been able to carry out its planned activities without any difficulty. I would like to put on record here my sincere gratitude to the members of the Board of Trustees and the Advisory Panel for their guidance and contribution throughout the year.

An important component of the Institute's activities is the monitoring of macroeconomic surveillance and forecasting, which is supplemented by the quarterly business conditions and consumer sentiments surveys, and the quarterly automotive industry, retail trade, residential property and tourism market surveys as well as the co-branded VISTAGE-MIER CEO Confidence Index quarterly survey. Findings provided by these surveys accurately tracked the Malaysian economy. These activities have been useful to the business community and have also contributed much to the Institute's profile because of the rigorous analyses.

Another core activity is capacity or institutional building and training projects, which have gained prominence in recent years. These projects have assisted the newly emerging economies in their development planning, human resource development and integration of their economies into the regional and global economies through bilateral, regional and multilateral channels.

To-date, the Institute had been successful in carrying out such projects in Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan, Southeast Asian and Africa. It is noteworthy that these projects have been carried out in collaboration with prominent international organisations.

Several equally important projects successfully completed in the year include 'Joint Feasibility Study to Assess the Variability of an ASEAN-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement(FTA)' commissioned by the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, 'Realising the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC): A Comprehensive Assessment - Chapter on the Regional Market for Goods, Services and Mobility' commissioned by the East-West Center, Hawaii, USA, 'Global Financial and Economic Crisis: Impact, Lessons and Growth Rebalancing' commissioned by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo, 'ASEAN Scorecard Project' and 'Project on Liberalisation of Services: Survey and Write-up on Maritime and Telco Services' commissioned by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Jakarta, and 'Pelan Stratejik Perak Maju 2015'; commissioned by the State Economic Planning Unit of Perak.

The above activities have enhanced our understanding of the Malaysian economy and we, in turn, have successfully translated these lessons to the benefit of transition economies. Our involvement in these international projects has led to the creation of a highly commendable image overseas.

Today, the Institute boasts, among its many clients, the Government of Malaysia, several state governments in the Federation and the corporate sector as well as several governments in the ASEAN region, international and regional organisations and national institutions of foreign countries, all of which have been instrumental in contributing to the Institute's overall achievement.

The Institute also organised a successful National Economic Outlook Conference (NEOC) in December, a high-profile annual year-end event. In addition to the core research activity and the NEOC, the Institute also organised conferences, seminars, workshops, economic briefings, training workshops and MIER Brown Bag Seminars. MIER has also been co-managing the prestigious Asia Oil & Gas Conference (AOGC) with Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) for the last several years.

While serving the international community, the Institute has not forgotten its responsibility to the local public-at-large. The Executive Director and other research staff regularly contribute articles on topical issues, which are published in the local media regularly. This is to keep the public abreast of current developments in the economy, and to stimulate thinking on policy issues. Also, the Institute's staff members write papers for presentation at conferences organised by other institutions, both at home and abroad.

Local and foreign guests and visitors are also a regular feature at MIER. The Institute also provides consultation at a small fee to organisations seeking advice or alternative views on the economic happenings in the country.

In order to meet the mandated objectives, the Institute must be adequately funded. Towards this end, fund-raising drive to enhance the MIER Endowment Fund has become a norm at the Institute. We are grateful for the contributions made so far by the Government of Malaysia and corporate benefactors.

We are also grateful to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which has given tremendous financial and technical assistance since 1987 until the first quarter of 2001, the Government of Malaysia for its strong support, and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) for graciously providing rental-free office space. Last but not least, my sincere gratitude to Queen's University at Kingston of Canada for the smooth coordination of the MIER/Queen's Project under the CIDA Phase II Programme Support to MIER, which finally came to an end as of 1 April 2001.

The Institute's future research plans points to increasing in-house research projects and other policy studies in the years to come. I am confident that as MIER gains in credibility and experience, it will continue to make useful contributions in fulfilling the goals for which it was established.

Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim
21 April 2010

Posted by kala at 03:15 PM on July 27, 2010