The 16th Malaysia-Australia Joint Trade Committee (JTC) Meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur on 31 January 2012. The JTC Meeting was co-chaired by the Hon. Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysia’s Minister of International Trade and Industry, and the Hon. Dr. Craig Emerson MP, Minister for Trade Australia. Members of the Malaysia-Australia Business Council (MABC) and the Australia Malaysia Business Council (AMBC) also attended the meeting.
The 16th JTC meeting discussed a number of issues ranging from Australia’s food labelling legislation, logging regulation and investment issues related to mining and resource processing as well as financial services. The meeting reviewed the progress of the ongoing close cooperation between Malaysia and Australia on customs matters, Islamic finance, clean energy and green technology as well as the automotive sector. In terms of new collaboration proposals, it was agreed that Malaysia and Australia to pursue cooperation in the areas such as collaboration between CIDB and AUSTRADE on sustainable and green construction and collaboration between MATRADE and AUSTRADE on a continued collaboration in green technology and holding of a bilateral roundtable on the logistics sector to share experience and enhance capacity building. In addition, Malaysia and Australia also exchanged experience and shared expertise on economic reforms being implemented by both Governments.
The 16th JTC Meeting also noted the status of the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement (MAFTA) and discussed ways of making future progress. The Ministers reaffirmed the joint commitment made by the Prime Ministers to conclude the MAFTA in 2012 and the negotiation teams from both countries have intensified efforts to narrow and resolve the differences. Both Ministers are confident MAFTA will elevate the bilateral trade and investment relations to a new level, and build further on the achievements of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).
Malaysia Australia Business Council (MABC) and its counterpart, the Australia-Malaysia Business Council (AMBC) presented their Joint Statement which included their activities undertaken in 2011 and submitted proposals of interest to the private sector of both countries. The Ministers commended bothMABC and AMBC for their consistently active role in strengthening bilateral relation, particularly on the implementation of two major initiatives in 2011. The first initiative was the Journalists Familiarization Programme, which was successfully organised in September 2011, while the second initiative is the launching of the Australia-Malaysia: Forging Ahead publication and media service in November 2011.From January-November 2011, Australia was Malaysia’s 11th largest trading partner. Total trade with Australia increased by 6.1% to reach RM34.0 billion compared to the corresponding period in 2010 valued at RM32.0 billion. Exports decreased marginally by 0.3% while imports increased 21.6% to reach RM11.4 billion.
From January- November 2011, Australia was Malaysia’s;
The 16th JTC meeting discussed a number of issues ranging from Australia’s food labelling legislation, logging regulation and investment issues related to mining and resource processing as well as financial services. The meeting reviewed the progress of the ongoing close cooperation between Malaysia and Australia on customs matters, Islamic finance, clean energy and green technology as well as the automotive sector. In terms of new collaboration proposals, it was agreed that Malaysia and Australia to pursue cooperation in the areas such as collaboration between CIDB and AUSTRADE on sustainable and green construction and collaboration between MATRADE and AUSTRADE on a continued collaboration in green technology and holding of a bilateral roundtable on the logistics sector to share experience and enhance capacity building. In addition, Malaysia and Australia also exchanged experience and shared expertise on economic reforms being implemented by both Governments.
The 16th JTC Meeting also noted the status of the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement (MAFTA) and discussed ways of making future progress. The Ministers reaffirmed the joint commitment made by the Prime Ministers to conclude the MAFTA in 2012 and the negotiation teams from both countries have intensified efforts to narrow and resolve the differences. Both Ministers are confident MAFTA will elevate the bilateral trade and investment relations to a new level, and build further on the achievements of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).
Malaysia Australia Business Council (MABC) and its counterpart, the Australia-Malaysia Business Council (AMBC) presented their Joint Statement which included their activities undertaken in 2011 and submitted proposals of interest to the private sector of both countries. The Ministers commended bothMABC and AMBC for their consistently active role in strengthening bilateral relation, particularly on the implementation of two major initiatives in 2011. The first initiative was the Journalists Familiarization Programme, which was successfully organised in September 2011, while the second initiative is the launching of the Australia-Malaysia: Forging Ahead publication and media service in November 2011.From January-November 2011, Australia was Malaysia’s 11th largest trading partner. Total trade with Australia increased by 6.1% to reach RM34.0 billion compared to the corresponding period in 2010 valued at RM32.0 billion. Exports decreased marginally by 0.3% while imports increased 21.6% to reach RM11.4 billion.
From January- November 2011, Australia was Malaysia’s;
- 12th largest trading partner.
- 9th largest export destination; and
- 11th largest import source.
- Malaysia’s major exports to Australia from January–November 2011 include:
- crude petroleum (RM 8.7 billion or 38.4% of total export to Australia);
- electrical and electronic products (RM 4.6 billion or 20.3%);
- refined petroleum products (RM 1.7 billion or 7.6%);
- chemicals and chemical products (RM 0.84 billion or 3.7%); and
- wood products (RM 0.64 billion or 2.8%);
Malaysia’s major imports from Australia from January–November 2011 were:
- manufactures of metal (RM 3.4 billion or 30.1% of total import from Australia);
- other mining (RM 0.97 billion or 8.5%);
- processed food (RM 0.91 billion or 8.0%);
- cereal (RM 0.74 billion or 6.5%); and
- crude petroleum (RM 0.72 billion or 6.3%);As at June 2011, a total of 297 manufacturing projects in Malaysia with Australian participation were implemented with total investments valued RM 2.2 billion (US$0.72 billion). These projects were mainly in the following sectors:
- Chemicals & chemical products (RM550.8 million or 24.9%);
- Petroleum products (incl. Petrochemicals) (RM258.3million or 11.7%);
- Rubber products (RM233.2 million or 10.6%);
- Machinery & equipment (RM183.5 million or 8.3%); and
- Non-metallic mineral products (RM172.3 million or 7.8%)
From January to September 2011, Malaysian investment in Australia wasrecorded at US$ 781.4 million (RM 2.4 billion). Major areas of equity investment:
- Manufacturing;
- Mining & Quarrying;
- Construction; and
- Real Estate Activities
- US$4,432.59million. Major areas of equity investment:
- Mining & Quarrying;
- Financial Intermediation; and Real Estate