Najib: What I like about Bush

SINGAPORE, Nov 14 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday praised former United States president George W. Bush for his staunch support of free trade, and urged other leaders to do the same.

“I have been saying privately, but I might as well say it publicly, that the thing I liked about President Bush’s foreign policy is that he was very pro-free trade,” he said at a panel session at the Apec CEO Summit 2009.

“Frankly I don’t like the other policies, but I like his policy on free trade.”

Najib said yesterday he hoped that the US and other countries could bring the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks to a successful conclusion to help sustain the economic recovery.

“Apec in Singapore is a wonderful opportunity for us to make a very strong political statement that we will resist protectionism,” he said.

“I hope the same message will be repeated here in Singapore, and I hope the world leaders will see to it that the Doha Round will be completed next year,” he added, to applause from the 1,200 business executives and government officials attending the conference.

Najib said that other than a rejection of protectionism, there must also not be any premature withdrawal of stimulus measures until there was real recovery led by the private sector.

His comments came amid fears about protectionist pressures fuelled by growing joblessness and the fragility of the global economic recovery.

Specifically, there was concern among Apec members about the Obama administration’s attitudes towards free trade, in the light of its “Buy American” policy and the strong domestic pressure to protect American companies and jobs.

At the forum, Najib also said he wanted 5 per cent economic growth next year for Malaysia, higher than the official forecast of 3 per cent.

“I’m not happy with 3 per cent — I want 2 more per cent next year and beyond,” he said.

For countries like Malaysia, he said, the old paradigm of “manufacture in the East, consume in the West” no longer worked.

His government is working on “new growth model strategies” for Malaysia to achieve the higher growth, which are expected to be unveiled by the end of the year. — Straits Times