First Round PCA talks to Kick Off In Putrajaya on Monday

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) - Malaysia and the European Union (EU) will

begin two-day talks on Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in Putrajaya
Monday, it was announced Friday.

Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the EU in Malaysia Vincent Piket said
the talks would go on for about 18 to 24 months based on the PCA negotiations
experience with other countries.

Prime Minister Najib Razak expressed the wish to conclude the talks in 18
months when he and European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso
launched the talks in Brussels on Oct 5, 2010.

The renegotiated PCA, which would further deepen political and economic
ties, would supersede the EC-Asean Agreement signed in 1980, Piket told Bernama
in an interview.

In the Asean region, the EU inked the PCA with Indonesia in November 2009,
with Vietnam in October 2010 and with the Philippines this month. Negotiations
with Singapore and Thailand are ongoing.

Piket said the talks would hinge on fundamental respect for human rights,
freedom, rule of law and achieving Millennium Development Goals.

He said the contents of the agreement would be multi-faceted, covering
commitments to elimination of weapons of mass destruction, among others.

Other areas of cooperation include international law, combating terrorism,
organised crime, energy security, migration and capacity-building, he said.

On EU-Malaysia FTA talks, Piket said first round negotiations was held for
three days from Dec 6 in Brussels last year and the second round has been set
for four days beginning March 1 in Malaysia.

The talks will cover goods and services, sustainable development, government
procurements and trade competition.

Piket said negotiating bilateral FTAs with individual Asean members would
prepare the ground for the EU-Asean Region-to-Region FTA.

In this spirit, the talks with Singapore started in December 2009 and
Malaysia was the second Asean nation to open FTA negotiations with the EU.

Piket said the EU was Malaysia's fourth largest trading partner behind
Singapore, China and the US while Malaysia was EU's second biggest trade partner
in Asean behind Singapore ahead of much larger and more populous countries like
Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Bilateral trade in goods clinched 23 billion euros in 2009.

While EU exports grew by 1.2 per cent on average per year in 2005 to 2009,
the envoy said Malaysia had consistently recorded a trade surplus of about five
billion euros with the EU over the same period.

Two-way trade in services was about 4.5 billion euro in 2008.
-- BERNAMA