KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia aims to conclude the Asean-India
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the services and investment sectors by early
December, says Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa
Mohamed.
The participating countries are
working on the purpose solutions, he said, adding that there is commitment by
all leaders to settle this matter by year-end.
"We have problems with India
especially with the independent professional movement on services sector while
facing some challenges on investment," he told reporters on the sidelines
of the Services Sector Conference, here today.
Mustapa said this when asked to
update on the Asean-India FTA in the services and investment sectors which was
reported to have reached a deadlock.
The minister expressed hope that
the negotiation could be concluded by early December.
"We hope to come out with
the agreement by the end of the year when the Asean-India Commemorative Summit
2012 is held in New Delhi," he said.
In another development, Mustapa
said Malaysia will get better beneficiaries once the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership agreement (RCEP) is concluded by 2015.
The 16 countries involved in RCEP
are the 10 Asean countries plus China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New
Zealand, where RCEP would be a single market with over three billion people and
a combined gross domestic product of US$17 trillion.
"Malaysia already has trade
agreements via Asean Free Trade Agreement in countries like India, China,
Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Japan, and with RCEP, we believe it will be
above what we have agreed before," he added.
Earlier in his speech, Mustapa
said the government would liberalise more services activities in phases to
attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the sector.
"To date, the government has
liberalised 44 services in healthcare, education, business services and
professional services, as the government has foreseen that FDIs in this sector
will increase significantly in the future," he said.
He added this was also in line
with the government's target to increase the sector contribution to 65 per cent
of national gross domestic product by 2020 from the current of 45-55 per cent.
Bernama
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