Friday
May 7, 2010
Envoy says a successful agreement will benefit bilateral trade
KUALA
LUMPUR: The European Union (EU) is going to have a second round of
meetings with the Government in June to explore the feasibility of
agreeing to a free trade agreement (FTA).
EU
delegation to Malaysia ambassador Vincent Piket said the visit by EU
officials in June was a follow-up to the initial meeting in March when
technical exploratory talks were held with the International Trade and
Industry Ministry.
“The
process is going fast. I expect the exploratory talks to have a
positive outcome,” Piket told a press conference yesterday.
He
said the EU originally planned to have a bilateral agreement with Asean
but realised conditions were not condusive for one.
Looking
at alternative ways, the EU felt the best approach was to negotiate
directly with individual countries which later could be grouped under
the umbrella of Asean.
The
EU is currently negotiating with Singapore, and Vietnam, too, has
agreed to meet for discussions.
“This
is important for trade. We have to do something for our companies and
traders,” Piket said, adding that a long-term arrangement between
Malaysia and the EU would be beneficial.
“There
are economic benefits coming from the FTA if it covers both goods and
services.”
Benefits
will not be a one-way street. Piket said econometric studies using 2006
data showed that Malaysia stood to gain the most from any FTA with the
EU.
He
said Malaysia could see its GDP increase by 8 percentage points between
2006 and 2020 should an FTA be signed.
Manufacturing
would add 2 percentage points to GDP while service would account for 6
percentage points.
In
Asia, the EU has signed an FTA with South Korea but that has yet to be
enforced.
“The
business community in Malaysia will welcome the FTA negotiations with
Europe,” said Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (Asli) CEO and
director Datuk Michael Yeoh.
Meanwhile,
to mark the 30th anniversary of EC-Asean Cooperation Agreement and the
53rd anniversary of the EU, the EU delegation to Malaysia and Asli have
organised a debate titled “The EU Debate - Asean, the new EU?” which
will be held on May 18 in Kuala Lumpur.
The
debate’s aims are to look into how far the experience and lessons
learned of the European integration model can be applied to Asean.
The
motion of the debate will be “This House believes that Asean should
become the new and improved EU.”
Speaking
for the motion is Malaysia Airlines chairman Tan Sri Mohd Munir Majid
and ambassador and head of the EU delegation to Indonesia, Brunei and
Asean Julian Wilson.
They
will be pitted against former secretary-general of Asean Tan Sri Ajit
Singh and Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce executive director
Stewart Forbes.
