With a fresh mandate given by the Cabinet, Malaysian negotiators are going for another round of TPPA talks in Brunei this week. What they also need is the support from the public after facing harsh criticism from many quarters.

 

IMMEDIATELY after a special Cabinet meeting on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA) last Thursday, Inter­national Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and his senior officials rushed to another meeting in Putrajaya for another TPPA session with academicians and think tanks.

It was to inform and update the group on the latest in the plurilateral negotiations involving Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States and Vietnam.

The partnership will create a huge duty free market of 800 million people with a combined GDP of US$27.5 trillion (RM85.25 trillion).

Much energy and time have been spent by Mustapa and his officers over the last few months on the proposed free...

KUALA LUMPUR, 21 Ogos (Bernama) — Perbadanan Pembangunan Perdagangan Luar Malaysia (MATRADE) akan menganjurkan beberapa acara untuk mempromosikan secara agresif jenama Malaysia di persada dunia. Pengarah kanan Bahagian Pembangunan Pengeksport, Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud berkata acara-acara itu seperti Pameran Malaysia-Myanmar di Yangon dan Pameran Malaysia-Pakistan di Karachi bertujuan mempromosikan restoran-restoran Malaysia di seberang laut. “Acara itu bertujuan mewujudkan permintaan untuk kuisin Malaysia menerusi program bersepadu, holistik dan pelbagai dengan kerjasama pengendali restoran. “Terdapat juga Program Dapur Malaysia di Hong Kong dan Malam Malaysia di Trafalgar di London,” kata beliau pada majlis pelancaran Persidangan Usahawan Jenama di sini Rabu. Beliau berkata MATRADE juga aktif membantu syarikat-syarikat Malaysia mengedarkan peluang eksport semasa dan maklumat berkaitan eksport kepada syarikat, terutamanya perusahaan kecil dan sederhana (PKS) untuk...

The TPP Ministerial Meeting was held in Brunei from 22-23 August 2013. The aim of the Ministerial meeting was to take stock of the progress made in the negotiations and provide clear guidance to negotiators. The meeting was attended by all the 12 TPP Minister or representatives.

This meeting was significant as to provide the avenue for Ministers to discuss the way forward on all the outstanding issues. Ministers are expected to table a progress report to the TPP Leaders when they congregate in Bali, Indonesia for the APEC Leaders Summit, 7-8 October 2013.

At the plenary meetings and working dinner on Thursday and Friday, we discussed issues relating to market access on goods, ISDS, cross border services, financial services, temporary entry, government procurement, environment, labour, intellectual property rights and state owned enterprises.

In my interventions, I drew attention to the growing discomfort domestically arising from Malaysia’s participation in the TPP...

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug 28 (Bernama) — Malaysia’s concerns on the outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations are being diligently addressed, said the Chairman of the Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus on the TPP, Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah. He said Malaysia’s negotiators have been considered “tough” as they actively take part in negotiations by raising all of the issues the Malaysian people are oncerned with once the TPP agreement is implemented. “Although details of the negotiations could not be disclosed just yet, we are quite sure, with the efforts made by our officers who are negotiating, that they are actually looking after the interests of Malaysia as a whole, “The good part of this negotiation is that nothing is agreed on until everything has been agreed upon he told Bernama on the sidelines of the 19th round of TPP negotiations here.

Twelve countries are converging here for the 19th round of negotiations, including Japan, which made...

Kebimbangan Malaysia berhubung hasil rundingan Perjanjian Perkongsian Trans-Pasifik (TPPA) kini ditangani dengan teliti, kata Pengerusi Kaukus Parlimen Malaysia mengenai TPP, Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah. Beliau berkata, perunding Malaysia dianggap “tegas” kerana mereka mengambil bahagian secara aktif dalam rundingan dengan membangkitkan semua isu yang menjadi kebimbangan rakyat Malaysia apabila perjanjian TPP itu dilaksanakan. “Walaupun butir rundingan tidak boleh didedahkan lagi, kita cukup yakin, dengan usaha yang dibuat pegawai kita yang berunding, mereka sebenarnya menjaga kepentingan Malaysia secara keseluruhan. “Apa yang baik dalam rundingan ini ialah tiada apa yang dipersetujui sehingga segala-gala persetujuan dicapai,” katanya di luar pusingan ke-19 rundingan TPP di Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. Semua 12 negara terbabit berkumpul untuk pusingan ke-19 rundingan, termasuk Jepun, yang muncul buat pertama kalinya dalam rundingan lalu di Kota Kinabalu. Selain Malaysia,...

YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Ministry of International Trade and Industry will lead the Malaysian delegation to the 10th China-ASEAN Expo 2013 which will be held from 3 – 6 September 2012 in Nanning, China. Malaysia’s participation at the CAEXPO 2013 is significant as 2013 marks the 10thAnniversary of ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership. The CAEXPO provides the platform for companies from Malaysia and ASEAN to showcase their products and services in the world’s largest free trade area. The CAEXPO also provides opportunities for businesses, including SMEs, to explore business synergies and network not only between ASEAN and China but also with other businessmen from all over the world. The event with a theme of ‘Regional Cooperation and Development: New Opportunities, New Impetus and New Stage” will be enriched with series of commemorative programme to celebrate the remarkable achievement of bilateral friendly cooperation between both regions. This year, a total of 138...

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 (Bernama) — International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed will lead a three-day trade and investment mission to Hong Kong and Shanghai beginning next Tuesday. The mission is aimed at enhancing trade and investment ties between Malaysia and China and strengthening business networking between the private sectors of both countries. The minister will update several Hong Kong investors on Malaysia’s economic development and investment opportunities. China was Malaysia’s largest trading partner last year, a position maintained since 2009. Trade with the republic accounted for 13.8 per cent of Malaysia’s total trade last year, which amounted to US$58.45 billion (RM180.61 billion), an eight per cent increase from 2011. Mustapa will be accompanied by officials from the government sector, officials from investment promotion agencies and a business delegation, the ministry said in a statement. The objective of the mission is to update...

Institut Automotif Malaysia (MAI) bekerjasama dengan Total Auto Parts Solution Sdn Bhd untuk melaksanakan sistem perdagangan elektronik bagi segmen alat ganti terpakai industri automotif yang dikenali sebagai TAPS. Ketua Eksekutif MAI, Mohamad Madani Sahari, berkata sistem TAPS adalah inisiatif berpandukan pelanggan yang akan menjadi antara aspek penting Dasar Automotif Negara 3.0 (NAP 3.0) membabitkan pasaran komponen keselamatan alat ganti kenderaan. Ujian perintis November “Sistem itu kini dalam peringkat akhir dengan ujian perintisnya pada November ini. Kami menjangkakan versi penuh sistem ini akan bermula sepenuhnya pada Januari tahun depan,” katanya pada sidang media selepas majlis memeterai Memorandum Persefahaman (MoU) untuk tujuan itu di Cyberjaya, semalam. Pada majlis itu, Mohamad Madani mewakili MAI, manakala Total Auto Parts Solution oleh Pengarahnya, Desmond Soh. Mohamad Madani berkata, projek perintis menggunakan sistem TAPS itu menawarkan pasaran yang...

KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA emerged  the 24th most competitive nation among 148 countries,  ranked   by  the World Economic Forum in its recently released Global Competitiveness Report (GCR). Last year, Malaysia was ranked 25th out of 144 countries. The nation remains the second most competitive Asean country and has improved its position to seventh from 10th among 25 Asia-Pacific countries. GCR categorised the 148 countries in three stages of development, namely factor-driven, efficiency-driven and innovation-driven, based on gross domestic product per capita. Malaysia falls in the transition category, moving from an efficiency-driven to innovation-driven economy. The report noted that Malaysia held considerable advantage and was ranked 10th in its efficiency and competitiveness when it came to the marketing of its goods and services, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed yesterday. The report also held high regard for the country’s...

PETALING JAYA: The Government can now slap emergency import restrictions on certain products to protect local industries under the new Safeguard Act (Amendment) 2012 which came into force on Sept 1. The Ministry of International Trade and Industries (Miti) said the act, an amendment to the current Safeguard Act 2006 (Act 657), allowed intervention by the authorities when local industries were threatened by cheap imports. Under the act, it said Malaysia was allowed to invoke safeguard measures based on the provisions in its bilateral or regional free trade agreements. According to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on safeguards, a member country may take such action to protect specific domestic industries from an increase in imports of any product which is causing, or is threatening to cause serious injury to the industry. Although these measures could not target imports from a particular country, it said quotas could be allocated upon supplying countries, including...