that comprises of a significant young and dynamic segment. the growing middle class has altered the consumption and savings patterns in the region, providing the region cumulatively with a huge growing consumer market. asia also has high savings which allows for higher consumption while still having surplus funds to finance regional investment activity. the rapid trade liberalisation across asia has improved market access, creating a vast market for goods and services. in addition, bilateral and region - wide free trade agreements are set to expand further even as multilateral agreements continue to be pursued. the growing pace of intra - regional investment flows has also gained momentum to complement the region ’ s trade integration. businesses in the region are leveraging on regional complementarities as well as taking the opportunity of the growing markets in the region. in malaysia, almost half of foreign direct investment into our country originate from the regional economies. in addition, malaysian corporations have also in recent years increased substantially their presence in the region. the success of intra - regional investment reflects the competitiveness and dynamism of asia. a more recent phenomenon is the increased financial integration. as this occurs, it will result in a more efficient recycling of asian savings into investments within asia. given that asia will need about usd8 trillion in infrastructure development over the next ten years, the effective channelling of asia ’ s large pool of savings into productive uses within the region will be important to support growth and development in asia. deeper financial integration within asia is already occurring as financial markets in asia become more developed and mature. regional efforts are being intensified to accelerate this process, including in developing the regional bond markets. policymakers in asia have also come together in asean + 3 and the executive meeting of east asia pacific ( emeap ) groupings to promote greater cooperation in maintaining regional macroeconomic and financial stability. the more volatile and unstable international financial and economic conditions have called for the need for greater regional surveillance for the early detection of risks to the region. these have now been put in place including mechanisms to enable the region to cope with rising uncertainties. through emeap, regional collaboration on surveillance has been enhanced to strengthen the region ’ s vigilance and resilience against potential crises. the asean + 3 member countries have already taken steps to multilateralise the chiang mai initiative towards a more advanced and robust framework for the effective pooling and utilisation of liquidity support in the region. the bilateral relationship between malaysia and korea malaysia ’ s economic relationship with korea is very much part of

a mutually reinforcing economic entity. as a group, asia has now emerged as a global economic powerhouse with the share of gdp to world gdp amounting to 13. 4 % in 2009, about twice that in 1980. going forward, the imf projects that developing asia will grow by 8. 2 % in the next five years, higher than the rate recorded in the period of 2000 – 2009. the strengths within asia has been most evident in the recent global financial and economic crisis. asia has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of the unprecedented international financial crisis. most regional economies have seen positive growth since the second half of 2009, with prospects for a sustained recovery. the region has benefited from strong fundamentals and the financial reforms undertaken in this recent decade which has enabled the region to recover faster with a stronger performance. several other factors have contributed to this early recovery. first, the region had policy flexibility to respond to the consequences of the international financial crisis. strong fiscal positions, including relatively low public debt levels, have allowed many asian governments to implement larger fiscal stimulus. second, the financial sector in the region is in good health. disruption to credit flows to the private sector have been avoided. third, households and the corporate sectors in asia are not over leveraged, and thus are in a better position to resume consumption and business activity once confidence had returned. fourth, asia is also not plagued with wide scale unemployment. fifth, increased intra - regional trade has contributed significantly to the resumption of international trade in most of the regional economies. the strong surge in exports in the regional economies in the recent months is due primarily to the significant rise in intra - regional trade. strengthening of regional integration regional integration will become an increasingly important factor in sustaining the future growth in the region. despite asia ’ s diversity in people, culture and traditions, the region has been able to come together as a group to achieve greater integration in the areas of trade and investment. while trade remains an important contributor to growth in the region, of importance is that the pattern of trade of the asian economies has changed significantly. this decade has seen the rise in intra - regional trade. intra - regional trade in asia has risen from 32 % of total exports in 1995 to an average of 50 % in 2008. increasingly, as incomes rise in asia, intra - regional trade will increase to meet the rising domestic demand of regional economies. more than half of the world ’ s population resides in asia that has a favourable demographic structure