Malaysia is working to resolve a spat with India over Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s stance on Kashmir and hoping that a 16-nation trade pact, which includes India, would be signed this year despite the strained ties, its trade minister said yesterday.
Ties suffered a downturn after Mahathir late last month told the UN General Assembly that India had “invaded and occupied” Kashmir, a disputed Muslim-majority region also claimed by Pakistan.
India on Aug. 5 revoked the autonomous status of its Jammu & Kashmir region and has rejected foreign criticism, largely from Muslim-majority countries and China, insisting it is an internal affair.
Indian traders have called for a boycott of Malaysian palm oil — which Mahathir has said amounts to a trade war — and there were concerns in New Delhi that talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) could be affected too.
The spat between the world’s second-biggest producer and exporter of palm oil and its current biggest customer could most likely benefit Indonesia, the biggest producer and exporter.
Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Darell Leiking yesterday told reporters that RCEP talks were on track and a final deal should include all the intended participants: the 10 members of ASEAN and six Asia-Pacific countries — China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
A RCEP summit is to be held in Bangkok on Nov. 4.
Leiking said that “anything can happen” before the summit, but all 16 countries were moving toward finalizing the free-trade agreement (FTA).
“We hope that RCEP negotiations can be concluded by year-end so that Malaysian companies could reap the opportunities from this mega FTA in opening up more market access for our products and services,” he said.
The China-led RCEP is expected to create an integrated market of 3.4 billion people with a combined GDP of US$49.5 trillion, or about 39 percent of the world economy.
Leiking said that he has met with Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and informally discussed New Delhi’s concerns on bilateral ties.
“Hope to meet him more and get more details into the issue and what they want to do,” Leiking said. “We have yet to hear [formally] from the [Indian] government, but we will engage with their government more so.”
Separately yesterday, the Malaysian minister in charge of palm oil said that the government was considering sending a delegation to meet with India’s top vegetables oil trade body, which had called on its members to boycott Malaysian palm oil.
“We need to see the response on the India side,” Malaysian Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok (郭素沁) told reporters in parliament. “It’s good to talk and it’s good to not do harm to bilateral trade.”
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