Malaysia has performed tremendously in what it was set out to accomplish under former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Vision 2020, says Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.

Although the country may not achieve the targeted high income status by 2020, Anifah said substantial progress had been recorded in various areas as envisioned through the decades-long national aspiration.

"We may have been challenged by unforeseen circumstances along the way, but we have achieved quite tremendously in terms of health, education and GDP (gross domestic product)," he said during a Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TN50) dialogue with fellow Malaysians here, recently.

"I can't say that it's excellent because not everything we aim to achieve is achievable, but we are quite satisfied with where we have gotten so far ... and we will continue to progress further under the
TN50," he added.

Speaking to over 200 Malaysian students and expatriates in New York City, Anifah said TN50, which was introduced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, served both as a continuation of Vision 2020 as well as a new road map to propel Malaysia into the top 20 nations in the world.

He said the launch of TN50 could not have been more timely considering that Vision 2020 is three years away from coming to an end despite having a few targets that seem unlikely to be met by then.

"It's not like we will forget about it (Vision 2020) when we reach the year 2020. Some targets are likely to be missed so we need another long-term plan ready and this is where the TN50 comes into the picture," said Anifah.

TN50, which officially kicked off in January this year, is a 30-year initiative plan for the future of Malaysia in the period of 2020 to 2050.

It was first announced by Najib during the tabling of the 2017 Budget in October last year.

Vision 2020 was introduced by Dr Mahathir during the tabling of the sixth Malaysia Plan in 1991. It aspires for Malaysia to achieve a self-sufficient industrialised nation with a high-income status by 2020.

In 2013, the average income per person in Malaysia stood at US$10,345, putting the country on track to meet the targeted Gross National Income of US$15,000 by 2020, according to The Institute for Democracy
and Economic Affairs (IDEAS).

However, the figure went downhill in 2016 to settle at US$8,821 despite showing a positive growth when converted to Malaysian ringgit.

This was mostly due to the decline in Malaysia's competitiveness, said IDEAS research director, Ali Salman.