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YB DATO' SRI MUSTAPA MOHAMED
MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY
BUSINESS ETHICS FOR APEC SMEs: PROMOTING SME ACCESS TO GLOBAL MARKETS AND SUSTAINABILITY BY DEVELOPING CODE OF CONDUCT PRINCIPLES FOR THE MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR
7TH APRIL 2011 (THURSDAY)
SHERATON IMPERIAL HOTEL, KL
Assalamualaikum W.B.T and Salam 1Malaysia.
Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed,
Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission;
Mr. Nasir Abbasi,
Senior Commercial Officer of US Embassy in Malaysia;
Yang Berbahagia Datuk Dr. Ir. Mohamed Al Amin bin Abdul Majid,
Chairman of SME Corp. Malaysia;
Mr. Christopher White,
Expert Working Group Co-Chair and Executive Vice President of the Advanced Medical Technology Association;
Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Hafsah Hashim,
Expert Working Group Co-Chair and CEO of SME Corp. Malaysia;
Representatives from participating APEC Economies;
Distinguished Guests,
Members of the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
1. First and foremost, I must convey regards and apologies from MITI Minister, Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed for not being able to be here today. Let me assure you that Dato’ Sri Mustapa would have loved to be here to join all of you. He has asked me to do the honours for him and I am please to be given this pleasant task of reading his speech today.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
2. It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome all of you distinguished participants from APEC economies to Malaysia. Your presence here reflects your country’s commitment and interest to jointly develop a voluntary code of business ethics, particularly in the medical device sector.
3. Malaysia is indeed pleased to be chosen as a partner with the US to develop a voluntary code of business ethics in promoting ethical interactions between the medical technology companies and healthcare professionals. I have been informed that the prototype of the code of business ethics will later be emulated to also be applicable to other sectors of the industry, with the construction industry next in line.
4. This initiative is very much in line with the decisions of the 2010 APEC SME Minister’s Meeting in Gifu, Japan where we urged the APEC economies to continue to enhance the business environment through the promotion of stable regulatory frameworks.
5. I also recalled that the Ministers discussed long term efforts and endorsed ‘facilitating open and transparent business environment, free from high costs of corruption through the development of APEC Code of Business Ethics in sectors of export interest to APEC economies, beginning with the medical device sector’.
6. I am encouraged that at this meeting in Kuala Lumpur, APEC economies are able to share experience and best practices from participating economies. In the 16 years Malaysia has been involved in APEC this is by far a project with the most number of participating economies – 18 out of 21 APEC economies are here today to discuss and construct a voluntary code of business ethics. I wish to congratulate the team for staging such a good initiative that has received support from many APEC economies. Indeed, I look forward to the formulation of a set of universal code of business ethics that cuts across all industry sectors, which ultimately would contribute towards enhanced business competitiveness.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
7. The medical device and health industry is not an industry we can afford to be lenient with. People might take advantage of desperate times, wherein unethical measures may be taken. Thus, this could be in the form of inappropriate dealings, consumption of dangerous supplements or even sale of medical supplements or devices in the black market.
8. One needs to acknowledge that business ethics practice is not limited only to the fight against corruption. It involves principles of integrity, discipline and good and clean business dealings. As a country, Malaysia endorses these business principles and ethics. To show our commitment in driving these principles in doing business, the Malaysian Government together with the various industry associations have published:
• The Code of Business Ethics Malaysia in November 2007;
• A Pledge to Fight Corruption by the Business Community in December 2010; and
• A Corporate Integrity Pledge and Anti-Corruption Principles for Corporations in Malaysia in March 2011.
9. Indeed, the Government of Malaysia has shown our undivided commitment in supporting ethical business principles and fully supports the initiative of the APEC SME Ministerial Meeting last year to facilitate open and transparent business environment. It is of utmost importance that the healthcare professionals and the medical devices industry possess high integrity, discipline and fight corruption to the end. Indeed, if we succumb to unethical practices, the price we pay is very high, and can be fatal. Together, the APEC economies must be firm against corruption and avoid it at all costs.
10. The Malaysian Government’s stand is that corruption is a serious offence, whether conducted on a large or small scale. Malaysia has been ranked 56th in the world in the Transparency Index. In fact, recently, the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was ranked in the top five among 100 influential people in business ethics for 2010 by the New York-based Ethisphere Institute. Amongst the accomplishments under his leadership include the passing of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 which came into effect on 15 December 2010.
11. Moving forward, the 2011 target for Malaysia’s score on Transparency International Indexes/Surveys has been revised upwards to 50% as there have been several refinements and improvements in ensuring effective anti-corruption exercises. These initiatives would very much relate to the cost of doing business and competitiveness of companies.
12. I wish to share the ranking in the World Competitive Index, wherein Malaysia is ranked 26th, with the aggregate score remaining fairly stable. The ranking is of course in comparison to the world’s most competitive countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore and USA. There is still much room for improvement for Malaysia, and to increase the business competitiveness, there is greater urgency for Malaysia to implement transformation initiatives quickly. Initiatives under the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) are comprehensive, including issues of combating corruption for the country.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
13. It is hoped that at this meeting, participating APEC economies will make full use of your time here to craft a solid and concrete business ethics code that can be used as a reference by all the other economies, beneficial to every business, everyone and everywhere around the world. I look forward to the development of business codes to improve and better align industry practices across APEC economies. You may even want to consider referring to this initiative as the ‘KL Principles of Codes of Business Ethics’, a document referred by all entrepreneurs in enhancing their business.
14. In conclusion, I would like to commend SME Corp. Malaysia for co-chairing this meeting together with the team from the US and bringing together all of you distinguished participants here to Malaysia. I wish you all a pleasant stay here, and hope that you will benefit from this meeting upon its completion. Please do take time to enjoy the sights and sounds as well as the warm hospitality that Malaysia offers.
15. On this note, I shall now declare APEC Expert Working Group Meeting on ‘Business Ethics for APEC SMEs: Promoting SME Access to Global Markets and Sustainability by Developing Code of Conduct Principles for the Medical Device Sector’ officially open. Thank you. |
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