KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 (Bernama) -- Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have praised Malaysia for not resorting to protectionism despite the challenges brought about by external economic environment and the global financial crisis.

In a statement here Wednesday, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) said they also commended the autonomous liberalisation of 27 services sub-sectors and the deregulation of the Foreign Investment Committee.

"The comments were made during Malaysia's Fifth Trade Policy Review under WTO covering the period 2005-2009. It is held from Jan 25 to 27, 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland," it said.

MITI secretary-general, Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat, headed the Malaysian delegation that included officials from the Finance Ministry, Bank Negara Malaysia, Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry and Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism.

The review aims to improve transparency and understanding of the trade policies and practices of members.

All WTO members have to undergo the process and the frequency varies according to their share of world trade.

The ministry said the WTO secretariat also prepared an independent report of Malaysia's economic performance and trade policies.

It said according to the report, Malaysia's economy grew steadily between 2005 and 2008.

However, the pace slowed in 2008 and 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis and fall in exports.

Miti said the report also highlighted the challenges faced by Malaysia, which included identifying new domestic sources of growth and resolving the problems of shortage of skills.

Measures listed in the report to address the challenges included unilateral trade liberalisation, further relaxation of foreign direct investment restrictions and diversifying the economy.

Miti said during the review, 23 WTO members submitted a total of 359 questions.

It said the members sought clarifications regarding the proposed New Economic Model to boost the economy, implementation of the recent announcement on services liberalisation, the effectiveness of Intellectual Property rights court, progress and scope of the Fair Trade Practices Bill, the revised National Automotive Policy and the import licensing regime for importing goods.

Meanwhile, in his presentation, Abdul Rahman said the rules-based multilateral trading system was important to Malaysia.

"Hence, Malaysia will continue to assume an active role in the current Doha Round negotiations," he said.

He also informed WTO members on the measures undertaken to alleviate the impact of the current global economic and financial crisis, as well as the future thrusts of the country in moving towards higher value-added, innovative and knowledge-based industries to achieve a high income economy.

"Further liberalisation will be done progressively taking into account the capability of the domestic sector, and the overall objective of balanced development," he said.

Abdul Rahman said the members also recognised Malaysia's efforts to further strengthen intellectual property laws and enforcement as well as formulating a comprehensive competition law.

"They also encouraged Malaysia to maintain and continue unilateral liberalisation efforts that would spur the economy and expansion of the services sector," he said.

-- BERNAMA