MSIA TO SIGN FTA WITH NEW ZEALAND NEXT MONTH

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will sign the Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) with New Zealand next month which will come into force in
January 2010, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Mukhriz
Dr Mahathir said Tuesday.

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

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

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

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

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 has entered into will 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 of 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 (US$1=RM3.5) billion compared with
RM8.21 billion in the corresponding period of 2008.

-- BERNAMA