M'SIA TO SIGN CECA WITH INDIA BEFORE JAN 31 NEXT YEAR, SAYS MINISTER

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will formally sign a
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India before Jan 31 next
year, says International Trade and Industry Minister, Mustapa Mohamed.

Speaking to reporters after his ministry’s monthly assembly here Tuesday, he
also said, full implementation of the CECA will come into force on July 1.

Mustapa said this agreement is to complement the Asean-India-Plus agreement and
it has a balance in benefits for both sides.

"The CECA is more comprehensive as it includes services, investment, economic
cooperation, customs, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures as well as
technical barriers to trade (TBT) chapters.

"It is a win-win situation for both countries. India is a big market and
growning very fast. It is also a big trading partner for Malaysia, especially in
palm oil," he added.

He noted that the Malaysia-India CECA is the fastest negotiated free trade
agreement (FTA) the country has undertaken to date.

According to Mustapa, the exclusion list for the CECA is shorter than that for
the Asean-India FTA.

India has excluded 1,225 products under the CECA compared with 1,298 for the
ASEAN-India pact. Malaysia has in turn excluded 838 products for it, compared
with 898 under the regional agreement.

Under the CECA, Malaysia has also been granted better concessions for palm oil
and palm oil products.

India will bind tariffs on red palm oil at 45 per cent by Dec 31, 2018. This is
a year earlier than India’s committed timeline under Asean-India.

On the same dateline, India will also bind tariffs on three palm products at 45
per cent. The three products are however, excluded from tariff concession under
the Asean-India FTA.

Malaysia has also obtained market access concessions for cocoa and cocoa
products as well as textiles and apparel which have also been excluded from the
Asean-India FTA.

The CECA also has more trade-facilitative product specific rules compared with
that for the Asean-India FTA as well as more stringent anti-dumping provisions
which will benefit Malaysian exporters.

The Malaysia-India CECA began negotiations in February 2008. However, it was
paused in July of that year to focus on the Asean-India FTA, with talks resuming
in March this year.

On the whole, it took seven rounds of negotiations to complete the CECA.

This is the fifth FTA concluded by Malaysia, after those with Japan, New
Zealand, Pakistan and Chile.

Mustapa also said that Malaysia is currently working on a few FTAs with other
countries like Turkey, Australia and the European Union as well as the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with the United States.

Malaysia is also looking at deepening economic engagement with the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, he added.
-- BERNAMA