M'sia's Minister Meets Counterpart In India

From M.Saraswathi JAIPUR (Rajasthan), Jan 16 (Bernama) -- International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed met Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed the strong bilateral ties between the two nations. Among others, India requested Malaysia, which is the current chair of Asean, to take up a more proactive role in the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact. Mustapa said Malaysia considered the conclusion of the RCEP negotiations as one of the deliverables during Putrajaya's chairmanship of the 10-member grouping. There are ample political will to conclude the negotiations, he said during the 15-minutes meeting held on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry Partnership Summit 2015 here Friday. RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement, which involves the 10 members of Asean and six other nations namely Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. The negotiations for RCEP, which involves 3 billion people and a combined Gross Domestic Product of US$17 trillion, were formally launched in November 2012 at the Asean Summit in Cambodia. Mustapa was also hopeful that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Malaysia this year. -- BERNAMA