M'SIA TO PLAY LEADING ROLE IN MOVING STALLED EU-ASEAN FTA TALKS

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will play a leading role in
moving the stalled European Union-Asean FTA negotiations along, Prime Minister
Najib Razak said here.

Najib said he expects the catalyst might well come from the potential for
the FTA to rebuild the wealth that has been lost during the most recent economic
crisis.

As a founding member of Asean, he said that Malaysia has a vested interest
in the EU-Asean FTA, which, despite the best efforts of all parties involved,
has not yet come to fruition.

"I note that the talks for this FTA have stalled, due in part to the
inherent difficulties involved in such a complex undertaking, some of which are
issues related to cultural differences and others to gaps in governances,
transparency and negotiation style," he said at the official launch of the
Malaysia Europe Forum.

"The EU-Asean FTA will serve as a gateway for our two communities to benefit
from rich cultural, political, institutinal and economic opportunities that we
might provide to one another," he said.

In 2007, Asean recorded a total of US$62 biillion in foreign direct
investment (FDI) flows. This is the highest to date, despite a contracting
global economy.

The EU as a major dialogue partner was the single largestt source of FDI at
US$14.3 billion

Najib said there have been concerns over the human rights issue in one of
Asean member nations, Myanmar.

He said the EU has expressed concern that dealing with Asean would be
tantamount to condoning the actions of those Asean members which do not
subscribe fully to democratic principles.

"I understand that the United Kingdom has made its stand clear that Myanmar
should not benefit from the EU-Asean FTA.

"The position Asean has taken is that this should not be an impediment to
completion of the FTA as both parties stand to benefit under the theory that
greater trade opens the door to political reform.

"My administration is fully committed to help get the issues to the table
and I hope there will be sufficient motivation from both the EU and Asean
teams to resume discussions as soon as possible,' he said.

Last year, EU was Malaysia's fourth largest trading partner after Singapore,
the United States and Japan.

Total EU-Malaysia trade in 2008 amounted to US$41 billion.

"There is obvious benefit to improving relationships between our two regions
for the benefit of businesses, both large and small.

"But in order to do so, we need to enhance our understanding of one another
of how we operate, how we preceive the world and how we do business,' he said.

Najib said there are fundamental differences between an Anglo-Saxon model of
business which is how the EU is organised and the Asian model of business,
which is a mixture of family enterprises, eastern philosophies and Asian work
ethics, whose governance systems and culture may not yet be at a level that
meets EU expectations.

Citing an example, the Prime Minister said there exists an opportunity for
better understanding in the West in regard to how Asia-Malaysia and Indonesia
in particular developed the palm oil industry.

"I wish to call on any skeptic who doubt that our palm oil is cultivated
and harvested in a way that meets the highest standards of sustainability to
come and visit us, tour and inspect our plantations, see if there are gaps in
our governance and our standards and help us repair those gaps should they
exist," he said.

Najib pointed out that another challenge in EU-Malaysia relations relates to
tropical timber logging..

"Our timber industry, like our palm oil industry, is more than a hundred
years old. Nevertheless, allow me to say that we continue to take steps to
ensure that logging activities in Malaysia are conducted in line with
internationally-recognised best practices," he added.
-- BERNAMA