Malaysia wants to bolster trade ties with India, says minister

Jaishree Balasubramanian
Kuala Lumpur, Oct 21 (PTI) India offers immense business
opportunities and Malaysia wants to avail of these prospects
and further cement the trade ties with New Delhi, Malaysian
International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapha Mohammad
said here on Thursday.
"There are a lot of prospects for Malaysia to do business
in India. India has a lot of globally competitive companies
and Malaysian businessmen were keen to look at these business
opportunities," Mustapha said at a seminar here.
Mustapha is leading a high powered business delegation to
India later this month.
He admitted that the crucial Malaysia-India Comprehensive
Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which is expected to
increase bilateral trade further, had been placed on the 'back
burner' as India and Asean focused on completing the FTA.
"Now that it is completed, I am expecting my officers to
put our bilateral negotiations on a faster track," he said. He
expressed confidence that Malaysia and India could work
towards a speedier conclusion of the bilateral FTA.
"This will enable us to achieve a deeper level of
economic integration that will benefit both sides," he said.
Mustapha, later, told reporters that during his visit to
India, he wanted to promote Malaysia for trade and tourism and
also meet up with Malaysians doing business in India with the
objective of charting out ways to step up bilateral trade.
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