KUALA LUMPUR: The Russia-Ukraine conflict will definitely affect efforts to speed up the global economic recovery, including that of Malaysia, Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said.

He said any conflict would definitely hurt the global economy and would not help any country move towards a positive economic growth.

"That is why Malaysia has always taken a stand to promote peace and settlement together.

"Malaysia has already made its stand on the situation in Ukraine. We hope there will be an effective solution for world peace and also the global economy," he said after the Chinese New Year reception at the MITI Tower here today.

Mohamed Azmin said the reconciliation was important as Russia was not only one of the important economic powers for Malaysia but also that of other countries that were still in the process of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said Malaysia not only has trade relations with Russia, but also people-to-people relations, including in the field of education and several industries such as the aerospace sector.

On the country's trade target of RM2 trillion by 2022, Mohamed Azmin said Malaysia, as a trading nation, needed to find a solution or other more proactive efforts to ward off the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Among the efforts taken by Malaysia is to become a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) officially on March 18, 2022.

"RCEP represents one-third of world trade. I believe this will provide space and opportunities for local industry players, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to market their products and services among RCEP members as Malaysia's market is small, so the market we will enjoy through this membership is much larger.

"Besides, we can also enjoy low tariffs or no tariffs at all. So, this is the best opportunity for us to expand the country's export value," he said.

Mohamed Azmin said for the first time, Malaysia's trade performance in 2021 recorded an outstanding achievement of more than RM2 trillion with total exports worth RM1.24 trillion, hence, reaching the target of the 12th Malaysia Plan four years earlier.

-- BERNAMA