Stating that the proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India would prove to be an “icing on the cake”, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the negotiations had been constrained by some difficult issues which required a focussed approach.
Interacting with a group of Indian journalists here, Mr. Najib said that he was hopeful that the CECA also knew that the free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Malaysia would be signed during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to Malaysia later this year, as it would further strengthen trade and improve cultural relations between the two countries. “The CECA will be an icing on the cake as it would provide overarching umbrella agreement to facilitate two-way trade and investment,” Mr. Najib said.
He said Malaysia and its people were deeply committed to take the ties between the two countries to even greater heights. “I am looking forward to the ASEAN services and investment agreement as well as the CECA,” he said. However, the Prime Minister noted that the CECA negotiations were being constrained by some seemingly difficult issues.
He proposed that a more pragmatic approach be adopted and stressed that the focus should be on what was doable and achievable so that the negotiations turned out to be win-win situation for both sides.
Malaysian and Indian officials working on the agreement observed that there were some issues that need to be sorted out which were time-consuming. Issues like movement of persons are a key concern to New Delhi, while for Kuala Lumpur palm oil is an issue. India is one of Malaysia's biggest markets for palm oil.
On the issue of a liberal visa regime, especially in view of the increased business and tourism exchange between the two countries, Mr. Najib said that he had instructed the Immigration Department of his country to introduce an easier visa regime for visitors from India.
He said the department would set up more offices in India, so that potential visitors could have an easy route to obtain the visas. The Prime Minister further said that there was scope for improvement in the tourism sector, as there were over 100 flights between Malaysia and India every week. “Malaysian Airlines operates 30 weekly flights, while Malaysia's budget airlines Air Asia has 63 weekly flights flying between the two countries. Another 21 weekly flights are operated by three Indian airlines. India was among the top 10 tourist sources for Malaysia, as tourist arrivals amounted to about 5.90 lakh last year.”
The Malaysian Prime Minister said that with the implementation of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement, it was possible that the trade performance could be taken to the 2008 level.
He said India was Malaysia's 12th largest trading partner and 11th largest major export destination. He also said that Malaysia was currently the 13th largest export destination of India.
