Registration to participate in the National COVID-19 Immunisation Program (NIP) would be made through several means and is expected to be open to the public starting next month. Among the platforms being mulled to be used by the government is through the MySejahtera application, public health facilities, the www.vaksincovid.gov.my website and a dedicated hotline which will be announced in the near future.

Malaysia’s economy is expected to return to positive growth this year, along with other economies globally on the sustained progress in the vaccine rollouts that will boost consumption worldwide, the World Bank Group said. Its Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice lead economist, Richard Record said the group expects the vaccine deployment can be mostly completed in 2021 in most economies, leading to strong recovery and demand, as well as boosting trade and commodity prices.

Amid concerns that smaller nations may be left behind in vaccinating their populations, New Zealand - one of the most successful countries in curbing the pandemic - will make the proposals at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which it will host virtually this year. “Our message is that to deal with a global pandemic like this we need more global participation,” said Vangelis Vitalis, New Zealand’s deputy secretary for trade and economy, who chairs the APEC2021 Senior Officials’ Meeting.

On 22 February, 2021, AMCHAM had a virtual townhall with the members of the Chamber. This first members' townhall of the year was a casual session and allowed for AMCHAM to have a chat with the members and inform them of updates and initiatives going around.

Microsoft Malaysia will continue its commitment to drive inclusive economic growth and innovation to ensure Malaysians, the private and public sectors can succeed in the country's digital-first economy. Managing director K Raman said the launch of MyDIGITAL - the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, marks the way forward to realise a shared future of prosperity for all Malaysians.

Malaysia deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“MLI”) on 18 February 2021.

The number of countries that have deposited their ratification instruments for the MLI is 63. What does this mean to the taxpayers?

In collaboration with the EU-funded programme WeEmpowerAsia of UN Women, LeadWomen is inviting Malaysian and Malaysian-based corporates to expand on their gender diversity efforts by joining the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Activators Malaysia Campaign. This will be the FINAL WEPs Awareness Training which will bring a wider consciousness of the WEPs and provide a toolkit to help identify your companies' strengths, gaps, and determine opportunities to improve their performance on gender equality, using the Gender Gap Analysis Tool.

Join the region’s largest AmCham event of 2021 from 9-11 March for a rare opportunity to engage with industry leaders and government representatives from the U.S. and across the Asia Pacific region.

All morning plenary sessions will be taking place virtually, with afternoon in-person industry breakout discussions for each of the 14 AmCham Committees to be held at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

Purchase your virtual pass now. Tickets for the afternoon in-person events are pending government approval, and we will notify you once registration for the in-person tickets is live.

Pear Anderson has been keeping track of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Southeast Asian travel industry. This is the latest update as of February 21, 2021. Vaccine deliveries and rollouts on the horizon for 3 more ASEAN countries, with Malaysia receiving its first batch today, Thailand due on 24 Feb and Vietnam 28 Feb. The Philippines still lagging behind due to paperwork delays. Singapore gets back into travel bubble gear, with the opening of applications for its Business Travel lane, Connect@Singapore.

In this update, we track the progress of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics as new clinical data and virus variants emerge. Since we shared our perspectives on COVID-19-vaccine development in July 2020, the pandemic has grown in proportion across most of Europe and North America, with more than a million new cases every two days, and more than 10,000 deaths per day.