MALAYSIA TO START FTA TALKS WITH EU NEXT MONTH

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is set to kick off the first round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the European Union (EU) in mid-December.

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the talks were
expected to be concluded within 18 to 24 months.

Speaking to reporters after opening the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC)
conference on competitiveness here Tuesday, he said: "Normally when we negotiate
with developed countries, they have very ambitious outcomes like deep tariffs
cuts, which pose a challenge to developing nations like us.

"The question is how do we negotiate so that it becomes a win-win situation for
both parties. But of course in any negotiation, we would want to be on a more
advantageous position," he said.

On FTA negotiations with Australia, he said there had been several rounds of
meetings between both parties and he hoped it would be concluded within 12
months.

EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation to Malaysia Vincent Piket was reported to
have said that the first round of FTA meeting had been scheduled in Brussels,
Belgium, from Dec 6 to 9.

Meanwhile on MPC, Mustapa said that with its restructuring under the New
Economic Model, MPC would do more work on regulatory review.

"Business regulations are very important and MPC will focus on that from now on,
whereas previously MPC was more on training and benchmarking," he said.

He also said that Tuesday's conference was important for both the public and
private sectors to brainstorm and promote collaborations between them.
-- BERNAMA