2010 A MAJOR MILESTONE FOR MANY FTAs, SAYS DEPUTY MINISTER

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- This year marks a significant milestone for
many with the implementation of the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and hope that
Malaysian exporters take full advantage of the development, says Deputy Minister
of International Trade and Industry Muhkriz Dr Mahathir.

He said Malaysia has been a major beneficiary of trade liberalisation
through the World Trade Organization (WTO), Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA)
and bilateral arrangements.

In 2008, Malaysia's total trade was 160.4 per cent of gross domestic product
(GDP).

Mukhriz said while 2009 was expected to record lower exports, there had been
however some improvement in export performance in the last few months.

"To further improve exports despite the challenging external
conditions, Malaysian exporters are encouraged to fully utilise the
numerous FTAs the government has signed," he urged.

These would include regional FTAs such as Asean-China, Asean-Korea,
Asean-Japan, which have already been enforced, and Asean-India and
Asean-Australia/New Zealand, which came into force in January this year, he
said.

Malaysia has also concluded bilateral FTAs with Japan, Pakistan and New
Zealand.

He said many Malaysian exporters were already seeing the benefits of the
FTAs with Japan and Pakistan.

The agreement with New Zealand will come into force this year while
negotiations are actively underway to conclude bilateral agreements with India,
Chile and Australia, he said.

These FTAs not only open up new market opportunities for Malaysian products,
but also allow the products to be priced competitively due to preferential duty
treatment offered by the trading partners.

Together, the concluded FTAs cover more than 60 per cent of Malaysia's
global trade and provide an eventual duty free market of more than 3.2
billion people.

Citing AFTA, he said the arrangement offered duty free treatment for almost
all products.

"China and the six earlier members of ASEAN will accord each other duty
free treatment on 90 per cent of the products.

"The number of certificates of origin (COO) issued by the Ministry of
International Trade and Industry (MITI) to our exporters under the preferential
schemes of the FTAs have increased by 13.0 per cent to 222,476 in 2008 from
196,856 in 2007.

"During the first half of 2009, while total exports to FTA partners' markets
have decreased compared with the corresponding period in 2008, there has been an
increase in the share of exports utilising the preferential schemes
under the FTAs," said Mukhriz.

From January to June 2009, exports using preferential rates under AFTA
amounted to RM10.61 billion (US$3.09 billion) compared with RM8.21
billion(US$2.39 billion) in the corresponding period of 2008.

Mukhriz also said that MITI would intensify its outreach programmes to
Malaysian companies to create higher awareness of the plentiful opportunities
presented by these FTAs.

Discussions and joint-programmes with the various business and trade bodies
are being held to assist Malaysian exporters to remain competitive in the midst
of challenging foreign market environment, he added.
-- BERNAMA