KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darell Leiking is confident that the country’s trade relations with India will remain intact with continuous engagements between the two countries.
“All of us are always engaging with all nations, what’s more with India which is one of our trade partners. I had the opportunity to engage with my counterpart there during a recent meeting in Bangkok and we were very clear about what we wanted.
“I believe that no country will want to hurt each other. Everybody will work together and find a common thing. The most common thing between our two countries is trade,” he told a press conference after the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s (MITI) Consultative Dialogue session today.
He was responding to a question on the possibility of India restricting imports of some products from Malaysia, including palm oil, in reaction to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s recent United Nations General Assembly remarks on the Kashmir conflict.
Meanwhile, Darell said the month-long MITI Consultative Dialogue, which began on Sept 12, addressed industry players’ issues on incentives, aerospace, automotive, textile, Industry 4.0, trade facilitation and ASEAN.
He said among the most prominent concerns of industry players was the timeframe of approvals by government agencies; in this case, the government had addressed the issue by establishing a quick approval committee to fast-track investments.
Today, another 29 issues across nine ministries were discussed which included government consultation, palm oil, renewable energy, licensing procedures for new hospitals, foreign workers, tax issues and water supply.
Meanwhile, asked on the latest round of talks for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in Bangkok on Oct 11, he said all parties involved showed their commitment to finalise the deal, despite some reports saying that the meeting was tough and serious.
“Each of them has their own issues but they work very well. Everyone wants RCEP to be finalised.
“Malaysia also has its own issues that it wanted to look into. The ASEAN foreign partners are accommodating,” he added.
— NNN-BERNAMA