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September 15, 2009 17:09 PM

Malaysia To Sign FTA With New Zealand Next Month

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is scheduled to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand next month which will come into force in January 2010, Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir said Tuesday.

The agreement is in line with the Asean/New Zealand FTA that will also come into effect in January next year, he said.

"The agreement will be signed here in Malaysia," he told reporters after officiating a seminar on "Opportunites from AFTA and Regional FTAs" organised by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation.

The bilateral agreement, of which discussions started in 2005, has been delayed as Malaysia and New Zealand embarked on FTA talks with China and the United States respectively.

The Malaysia-New Zealand FTA involves goods, services, investment and customs procedures as well as economic cooperation.

Malaysia is the seventh largest trading partner of New Zealand which exported nearly NZ$1 billion (RM2.3 billion) worth of goods to Malaysia with two-way trade worth nearly NZ$3 billion (RM6.9 billion) in 2008.

New Zealand's main exports to Malaysia are processed food, iron and steel products, and paper and pulp products while Malaysia's top exports are electrical and electronic products.

On the FTA between Malaysia and the United States, Mukriz said the government was still waiting for a fresh sign from the new government under President Barack Obama to move forward on the agreement.

"We want to see what are the new angles they may want to take," he said, adding that both sides were still interested to pursue the matter further.

Mukriz said the government was also exploring the possibility of having bilateral FTAs with other trading partners which will benefit the country.

Malaysia is now actively negotiating bilateral deals with India, Chile and Australia.

It already has bilateral FTAs, in the form of economic partnership, with Japan and Pakistan.

Mukhriz said the FTAs that Malaysia had entered into would not only open up new market activities for the local products but also make the products price-competitive due to the preferential duty treatment offered by trading partners.

The concluded FTAs cover more than 60 per cent of Malaysia's global trade and provide an eventual duty free market comprising more than 3.2 billion people.

From July 2008 to June this year, exports using preferential rates under the Asean Free Trade Area amounted to RM10.61 billion compared with RM8.21 billion in the previous corresponding period.

-- BERNAMA

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