KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and India will review the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) signed between the two countries in 2011 either in December or February next year, said Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia T.S. Tirumurti.
He said although the agreement has helped in a big way and bilateral trade now stood at US$13.38 billion in 2013, as per Malaysian statistics, the trade balance was in Malaysia’s favour.
“We will need to review the working of CECA and how it can be enhanced further to enlarge and diversify our trade basket and decrease the trade balance, which is significantly imbalanced in Malaysia’s favour,” he told Bernama.
Malaysia exported goods worth US$9.95 billion to India while it imported US$4.44 billion from India last year.
The CECA, which came into force on July 1, 2011,w is a free trade agreement, which covers trade in goods and services and investment, as well as, economic cooperation.
The envoy said that discussions are being held with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and they were looking at either late this year or February next year to carry out the review.
Acknowledging that economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries continued to be extremely important, Tirumurti said the progressive economic policies of India’s new government would undoubtedly give a big push towards engagement in this direction.
He encouraged Malaysian companies to continue to look at India as an investment destination since many large Malaysian companies have already invested in India or taken up major projects successfully over the years.
A more liberal investment climate in India and the focus of the new government to remove bottlenecks in investment, as well as, promote Public Private Partnership would certainly enhance opportunities for Malaysian companies to invest in India, particularly in infrastructure, he said.
“I am confident that Malaysian companies will find India an even more conducive place to do business and take up large projects,” he added.
Asked if he had any target for bilateral trade, the envoy said that a target of US$15 billion for 2015 would be more realistic due to the economic recession.
“In 2012 it was US$13.32 billion and only US$13.38 billion in 2013, so it is a very marginal increase for one year,” he explained.
He also praised Malaysia’s investor-friendly laws which resulted in many Indian companies investing in the country.
The companies that have set up base here include Punj LLoyd, Recron Malaysia and Tamco Switchgear (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Melaka-Manipal Medical College in Melaka and Manipal International University in Putra Nilai, Negeri Sembilan.
The high commissioner, who has been here for seven months, also said one of India’s largest paper and pulp industry, Ballarpur Industries Ltd India, owned a Malaysian company, namely Sabah Forests Industries, in Sabah.
He was confident other Indian companies will follow suit and explore the commercial opportunities available in Sabah.
“India has many companies and expertise in various fields, and we know that Malaysian investment laws are very friendly to investors, there’s no doubt, everyone in the world knows that your laws are very good,” he said.
As such, companies from India could also make Malaysia a base to penetrate other Asean markets, he said.
“I think this is where Malaysia can position itself as a country, which can (also) cater to Asean,” he said. – BERNAMA