Washington
Trade Daily April 15, 2010
BY:
Staff Reporter
Recognizing
that stalled bilateral free trade agreement negotiations with the
United States will not be resurrected, Malaysia is taking a "close look"
at joining the TransPacific Partnership negotiations, Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak said yesterday.
Malaysia
is not ready yet to make a decision, however. The just-launched TPP
negotiations currently include the United States, Australia, Brunei,
Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
But
if the TPP appears to be shaping up as a trade pact that would be
beneficial to his country, Mr. Razak said he will be keen to join -
especially as his government moves forward with a new economic plan
aimed at transforming Malaysia into a developed country by 2020. He
spoke at a forum sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International
Studies.
The
Prime Minister called it "unfortunate" that the United States and
Malaysia were unable to complete their free trade agreement
negotiations. But he suggested there is considerable opportunity for
bilateral cooperation on trade in areas like services and clean energy.
Trade
and investment liberalization are key components of Mr. Razak's
recently announced "New Economic Model" that he hopes will elevate
Malaysia to developed country status. That new model includes extensive
liberalization of the long-closed services sector and a revamping of
regulations and rules that will create an attractive investment climate.
As
it begins to implement its new economic model, Malaysia is taking stock
of both its strengths and weaknesses and assessing what further reforms
might be needed in order to join the TPP, Deputy Secretary General for
Trade Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria said during a later panel discussion on
economic cooperation. Malaysia has made known its interest in joining
the TPP and is engaging with some TPP members in order to gain an
understanding of what commitments it would need to make and what
benefits it would gain.
Malaysia
will not formally seek to join the TPP unless it is convinced
participation in the trade pact is in its own interest and that it can
meet the standards required of TPP members, Ms. Fatima said. "We will
not throw our hat into the ring until we make sure we can complete the
process. We don't want to repeat what happened to the US-Malaysia FTA,"
she stated.
Assistant
US Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Barbara
Weisel agreed that Malaysia will need to convince the current TPP
members that it is ready to take on "challenging issues" - including
sensitive issues like services and government procurement that stalled
the FTA. Negotiating the TPP is going to be complicated enough without
bringing to the table additional countries that are not certain they can
or will be able to deal with all the difficult issues in the extensive
regional FTA, she commented.
The
Administration views the TPP as the first step to a much broader free
trade agreement of the Asia-Pacific. Even without the TPP, the White
House sees opportunity for consideration trade cooperation with
Malaysia, Ms. Weisel suggested.
