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Malaysia, India hope to conclude FTA soon
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Malaysia and India hope to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
at the earliest, although an agreement has eluded them so far
over Kuala Lumpur`s demand that New Delhi cut duties on palm
oil.
"We hope to conclude all matters in the fastest time
possible," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told
reporters here today after a courtesy call by Indian Defence
Minister A K Antony, who is on a two-day official visit.
Syed Hamid noted that the Ministry of International Trade and
Industry had been negotiating the FTA.
India imports about three million tons of palm oil and its
variants annually, mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia,
according to Indian Commodity Bourse MCX.
"Both parties want the FTA signed as soon as possible," Syed
Hamid said, adding that the two also wanted the India-ASEAN
FTA to be concluded soon to further enhance ties between the
ten ASEAN member states and India.
Differences over duty cuts on palm oil, besides market access
to pepper and tea, has been a major roadblock in India`s quest
to conclude a free trade agreement with ASEAN, of which
Malaysia is a part.
"So far we have cleared all issues as regards to the FTA
between ASEAN and India. The only outstanding issue, I think,
is on palm oil. We hope this too can be concluded in the near
future," Syed Hamid added.
New Delhi has made an offer to reduce customs duty on crude
palm oil to 50 percent and on refined palm oil 60 percent by
2018. ASEAN, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, wants India
to bind the import duties at 30 percent and 40 percent on
crude and refined palm oil respectively.
India`s Commerce Minister Kamal Nath had indicated late last
year that Malaysia and Indonesia, the two main exporters of
palm oil, had been negotiating the price with India. The other
areas to be looked into were tea and coffee involving Vietnam.
Syed Hamid also noted that New Delhi wanted to sign a MoU on
labour with Malaysia in view of the huge number of Indians
working here. "We are looking into it and the human resources
ministry is handling the matter. The government has agreed in
principle to the MoU. They (the Indian government) want it
expedited.
"I have also explained to them that we want a proper system in
bringing these foreign workers as we already have about two
million foreign workers here. They understand our situation
and hope that we could streamline the process," he was quoted
by Bernama as saying.
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