Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue	: 	CHOGRM III, SUVA, FIJI 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	18/10/82 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	STATEMENT TO LEAD THE DISCUSSION ON 
			THE ITEM "REGIONAL ECONOMIC AND 
			FUNCTIONAL CO-OPERATION" 




Mr. Chairman, It is indeed a pleasure and an honour for me to be present
here today in this gethering of Heads of Government of Commonwealth
countries of the Asia-Pacific region. I am all the more honoured to be
given the privilege of initiating our discussion on the item "Regional
Economic and Functional Co-operation".

2. Perhaps I may be stating the obvious, Mr. Chairman, when I express the
conviction that it is regional economic and functional co-operation that
stands out as the main thrust of CHOGRM. Undoubtedly, our deliberations
here would also focus on international economic as well as political
issues. But these are global issues that are discussed in the wider
context of the Commonwealth at the full Heads of Government meetings. They
were discussed at Melbourne last year and I am sure they will be taken up
in New Delhi next year. However, the issues related to regional economic
and functional co-operation cannot be adequately considered but within a
set-up such as CHOGRM. It would have been a missed opportunity if we did
not devote to this item the very serious consideration that it merits.

3. The Commonwealth countries of this region, Mr. Chairman, represent in
fact a microcosm of the world at large. As an observation, one would note
more diversities than similarities among these countries. From an economic
plane alone, the Commonwealth countries of this region, are at different
levels of economic development. At one end, we have the industrialised
countries such as Australia and New Zealand; while at the other end, we
have the newly independent small countries of the South Pacific. In
between these two extremes, there is a wide range of more advanced but
still developing countries. I would like to put forth the view that the
situation provides us a real challenge and potential for regional economic
and functional co-operation among the Commonwealth countries in our
region. In this situation, the opportunity and the need exist for the more
developed members to assist those which are less developed. As most of the
countries in the region are developing countries, there exists a challenge
for cooperation among the developing countries themselves to assist each
other on a regional basis.

4. I would not deny the fact that most developing member countries,
including Malaysia, have derived certain benefits from their continued
membership of the Commonwealth. In this regard, the various programmes of
assistance under the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation
(CFTC) have been particularly productive. However, we would be indulging
in self-comfort if we do not at the same time admit that in recent years
the clout of the commonwealth has somewhat diminished. It is indeed
unfortunate that this situation has come about ironically as a result of
the actions or inactions of the prime movers of the Commonwealth
themselves.

5. The potential of regional economic and functional cooperation was
recognised in CHOGRM I in Sydney in 1978 and reaffirmed at CHOGRM II in
New Delhi in 1980. In pursuance of this objective, CHOGRM has established
a number of Consultative and Working Groups on economic matters such as
the Consultative Groups on Trade and Energy, the Working Group on Industry
and the Expert Study Group on Agricultural Research and Development. The
reports of all these Groups as well as proposals for further expansion of
regional co-operation in other areas such as human resource development,
as well as the Secretariat's proposal for the establishment of a CHOGRM
Project Fund are all before us for consideration. I do not wish to dwell
at length on the activities of these Groups or the proposals mentioned
above since I am sure these are matters that we will take up in the course
of our discussion. However, I wish to underscore the fact that the work
undertaken by the above mentioned Groups clearly manifest that there are
various functional areas in a number of fields of economic activity where
Commonwealth co-operative endeavours are possible. I believe that it is on
these economic areas that CHOGRM should continue to focus its attention.

6. Mr. Chairman, I hope that I may be permitted to make some brief remarks
on another regional grouping, ASEAN, on economic collaboration. I must say
that ASEAN has made great strides in its economic integration
programmes. It has approved four ASEAN industrial projects, signed a Basic
Agreement on ASEAN Industrial Complementation as well as has proposed the
setting up of ASEAN Industrial Joint Ventures. In the field of trade
liberalisation, the ASEAN Preferential Trade Arrangements are expected to
further promote intra-ASEAN trade. ASEAN is in fact promoting economic
co-operation among its members in virtually every area of economic
activity including, among others, in energy, transport and communication,
banking and finance and agriculture. With its major focus on economic
co-operation, ASEAN has now developed as a significant regional grouping
which has attained positive results not only in economic areas, but has
also contributed much to regional stability. I have dwelt on ASEAN,
Mr. Chairman, because I feel that CHOGRM could benefit from the ASEAN
EXPERIENCE. I would not venture so far as to say that what may be
applicable to ASEAN may necessarily be applicable to the CHOGRM countries.

However, I am convinced that CHOGRM could identify those areas of common
concern on which functional co-operation is possible.

7. Mr. Chairman, CHOGRM has always recognised the particular problems and
needs of the small island member states especially in the South
Pacific. On our part, we in Malaysia too see the need for the injection of
greater assistance to the South Pacific island countries so as to enable
them to build up their national resilience and independence. Although
Malaysia herself is dependent on technical assistance to accelerate her
pace of economic development, in a spirit of co-operation Malaysia has
launched a technical assistance programme to assist developing countries
which are less fortunate than she is.

In the context of the Malaysian Technical Assistance Programme (MTAP), we
have provided technical assistance to a number of South Pacific island
countries including Fiji, Western Samoa and the Solomon Islands, as well
as to Papua New Guinea. In view of our own financial constraints, our
technical assistance has to be on a modest scale and is generally confined
to those areas where Malaysia has, over the years, gained some experience
and expertise. I wish to state that we will continue to render technical
assistance to a number of developing countries in the CHOGRM area and it
is our intention to concentrate this assistance on those areas that would
be particularly beneficial to these countries.

8. We are fully conscious of the fact that the piece-meal efforts
undertaken by a number of countries, including Malaysia, to assist the
less fortunate among us, such as the South Pacific island countries, will
not generate as rapid an improvement as these countries need. However, if
concerted and continued efforts are made in this direction, I am positive
that we would have gone a long way to help these countries. I therefore
would like to appeal to others in the CHOGRM region to join us in these
endeavours.

9. Personally, I believe that we can all do even a little better than what
we have done so far. This meeting is most timely from the point of view of
learning what projects the island countries of the South Pacific have for
their own development. We can then consider what concerted action or
assistance will be needed to ensure that the projects towards their
self-sustained development will have a fair start. As I have said earlier,
regional economic and functional co-operation in the Asia Pacific region
is one way to revitalise the Commonwealth. As a matter of fact, the
Commonwealth is now on test. If the Commonwealth countries in our region
cannot actualise economic and functional cooperation, the prestige of the
Commonwealth itself will go down and the effectiveness and value of the
Commonwealth will be questioned.

10. While we are meeting here, I feel we cannot avoid commenting on the
world economic chaos. I feel there still exists a lingering mentality
within the free enterprise system that because of the emphasis on the word
"free", some industrially developed nations really feel free to scour and
devour the developing nations by their exploitative methods and
practices. They seem incapable of realizing that such libertine activities
would only lead to the destruction of the free enterprise system itself.

11. GHOGRM, which now consists of countries born as a consequence of
"Dumberton Oaks" and the United Nation decolonization programme, should
bring home the point to the developed countries that their exploitative
activities under the umbrella of the free enterprise system are
self-destructive. Our advise to these countries should be that they talk
less of their generosity to provide assistance to the poor nations and
instead undertake a thorough soul-searching examination with a view to
increasing their own productivity without their exploitative
activities. Only then could they begin to sincerely appreciate the
problems of the poor nations and the need to resolve them urgently. Until
lately, the productivity of the developed countries could be sustained
even with labour problems and strikes simply because they had their
colonies to lean on. But now, without their colonies and their areas of
influence it is no longer possible for these countries to maintain their
once-enviable economic growth, especially when workers are not prepared to
work for so many hours a day and for so many days a week. It is not
uncommon now to find some of these countries registering zero or even
minus zero growth rate.

12. We, therefore, hope that this CHOGRM will be able to send this very
important message to the developed countries, firstly within the
Commonwealth and secondly outside it.

Thank You.