Malaysia Will Greatly Benefit From New FTAs, Says Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysian businesses and consumers will benefit greatly from new free trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiations, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said Wednesday night. "The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), for instance, will create a single market of 467 million people with the potential to increase further should countries like Japan and other Asia-Pacific economies join," he said. Speaking at the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers 43rd Annual Dinner here, he said Malaysia had concluded over 11 FTAs covering more than 60 per cent of Malaysian global trade with a market potential exceeding 3.5 billion people. Mustapa also said the government had drawn up several trade promotion programmes to further galvanise these efforts. "Firstly, the incentives for small and medium enterprises to expand export activities such as expanding the scope of reimbursements to cover visits to technology fairs and technical studies overseas," he said. "Secondly, is the extension of double deduction incentives for advertising expenses for Malaysian brands to cover expenses overseas as well as domestic markets," he said. He added the ministry was now negotiating six FTAs including the TPP Agreeement and the Malaysia-European Union Free Trade Agreement. Mustapa said trade liberalisation would also enhance the competitiveness of the region and encourage increased foreign direct investments. "Malaysian consumers would also stand to benefit from the ability to purchase a greater variety of goods and services at competitive prices," he added. -- BERNAMA