KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and India are on track towards formalising a bilateral trade liberalisation pact under the Malaysia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).
The third round of the CECA negotiations will be held from March 29-31 in Kuala Lumpur.
The CECA is expected to further boost trade and investment between the two countries. India, was Malaysia's 12th largest trading partner, last year.
Trade between the two countries peaked in 2008 at US$10.52 billion but fell to US$7.06 billion last year on the back of the global economic downturn.
"I have no doubt that we will see trade between both countries return to, and then rapidly exceed the 2008 figure," said International Trade and Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed in a statement here Monday.
Mustapa said the ministry was encouraged by the level of interest within the corporate sectors in India and Malaysia, and looked forward to greater investment flows from India.
"I would like to see existing and new Indian companies expand their operations in Malaysia, particularly small and medium enterprises," he added.
Determined to ensure that negotiations are successful, Mustapa met with his Indian counterpart, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, in India recently to review progress on the CECA.
"Sharma and I have now agreed on a process which should ensure we meet this challenging deadline. The breadth of the agreement, covering services and investments, reflects the level of our ambition which I have characterised as 'Asean Plus'," Mustapa explained.
Malaysia through its engagement in Asean, signed the Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement last October. The agreement was effective, Jan 1 this year.
Malaysia has already ratified the India-Asean Free Trade Agreement, which will gradually remove tariffs on 70 per cent of traded items.
The CECA seeks to secure a higher level of commitment to trade relations between Malaysia and India.
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