The Hindu Business Line : Malaysian PM moots FTA with India

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, with the FICCI President, Mr Y.K. Modi (right), and the CII President, Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, at the Malaysia-India Business Forum in the Capital on Monday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Dec. 20

THE Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has underlined the need to deepen the Indo-Malaysian economic and trade cooperation through a free trade agreement (FTA).

He invited Indian businessmen to suggest a framework to maximise the gains from such a trading arrangement.

Mr Badawi, while addressing Indian and Malaysian industry leaders at a meeting jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Indian Industry on Monday, said, "I would like to know the expectations of business from the two sides so that the mutual aspirations could be reflected in the FTA to make it viable and workable."

He assured the Indian industry and trade that all roadblocks in the way of efficient functioning of free trade would be removed, including lacunae in financial and banking arrangements.

The Malaysian Prime Minister stated that the bilateral ties could be strengthened by focussing on areas of India's strengths such as machinery and engineering, pharmaceuticals, high technology and knowledge-driven industries.

Likewise, Indian companies could tap the competitive strengths of Malaysian companies in education, tourism, health services, finance and banking, biotechnology as well as high-value agriculture.

MoUs signed: Corporate India today moved a step closer to its Malaysian counterpart with the signing of memorandums of understanding in diverse areas such as IT, manufacturing, satellite systems, infrastructure development, airport management, education and R&D in biotechnology.

These were signed in the presence of the Malaysian Prime Minister and the Presidents of the FICCI and the CII.

The MoUs are between Ara Techniz Sdn Bhd and CMC Ltd; MEASAT and Antrix Corporation Ltd; Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Hyderabad International Airport Ltd; Inforvalley Life Sciences Sdn Bhd and Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology; Sistem Kompakar Sdn Bhd/Doxport Technologies Sdn Bhd and Konkan Railway Corpn India; Indofocus Sdn Bhd and Indian Gas Ltd; SAL Group of Colleges and Biosciences Research Institute; SAL Group of Colleges and KLR Technologies India Pvt Ltd; Malaysia Institute of Integrative Media and Learnet India Ltd; Astro All Asia Networks Plc and Sun TV Pvt Ltd; and PIKOM & Nasscom.