Logistics

Logistics is the backbone for cost effective and efficient international trade, and therefore of great importance for the competitive advantage of a country.

Malaysia, strategically located in one of the largest industrial regions in the world and along one of the busiest shipping routes, wants to promote itself as a gateway to ASEAN: as such it needs an efficient logistics system. The logistics sector will be liberalised by 2013, in the framework of the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community.

However, there are a number of issues which might jeopardise Malaysia's competitive advantage if the country fails to address them properly. One of the most pressing issues is customs, an area in which the inefficient bureaucracy and a lack of transparency and coherence make improvements extremely urgent. The Services Sector Project aims to show the extent to which the efficiency of customs and logistics affect the general competitiveness of Malaysia as a trading nation, and to improve the country's codes of conduct, resulting in an urgently needed increase of efficiency.