The future of industrialization in Malaysia under WTO

The objectives of this paper are: (1) to review Malaysia’s commitments and compliance with the WTO agreements thus far, (2) to assess the impact of Malaysia’s commitments to WTO on its industrial development, and (3) to evaluate WTO-consistent policy options that will enable the country to advance its industrialization process. The findings of this paper show that Malaysia has pursued a dual industrialization strategy. While the export-oriented sector has been able to fulfil Malaysia’s commitments to WTO, this has not been the case for the import-substituting sector. Thus, Malaysia’s compliance with its WTO commitments is incomplete and the import-substituting sector will face considerable challenges in its future development.