DPM: MALAYSIA HOPES TO RESUME FTA TALKS WITH US

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia hopes to resume the free trade
agreement (FTA) negotiation with the United States once it gets the signal from
Washington.

Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said Malaysia would like to
resume the talks but needed to get the nod from the US on when to resume them.

Muhyiddin said this at the Meeting of Minds session with Steve Forbes,
chairman/chief executive officer of Forbes and editor-in-chief of Forbes
Magazines at the Ninth Forbes Global CEO Conference here Tuesday.

"There are still a few contentious issues which we hope can be addressed.

"US is Malaysia's single largest trading partner and the biggest economy in
the world. We have been trading with the US for long time," he said.

He said Malaysia also expected China to become Malaysia's important trading
partner soon.

"We hope to boost trade with them. China is important and the best signal
that we get is it is buying more of our electrical and electronic components,"
he said.

The deputy prime minister said Malaysia's economy was expected to improve by
year-end and positive signs were expected by middle of next year.

"Currently, the economy is showing some improvements and moving into
recovery stage," he said.

Muhyiddin said the government would focus on small and medium enterprises as
they were important components of the economy.
-- BERNAMA