Malaysia Fta InvolvementINTRODUCTIONMalaysias FTA InvolvementInternational trade is an important contributor to Malaysias economic growth and development. Malaysias trade policy is to pursue efforts towards creating a more liberalized and fair global trading environment. While Malaysia continues to accord high priority to the rule-based multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is also pursuing regional and bilateral trading arrangements to complement the multilateral approach to trade liberalization. Apparently, this bilateral trading approach is due to the usual failure of WTO negotiations which threaten the credibility of the multilateral trade system. Accordingly, it has raised the attention of countries to Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).
The U.S. has indicated that it will continue to work on the issue of intellectual property rights, with emphasis on international trade and harmonization. While there are differences in Malaysia and the rest of the world concerning trade, Malaysia has more than doubled this share of non-U.S. IP to over 28 percent, resulting in Malaysia becoming the third-largest source of foreign money for global trade.[2] Malaysian companies operate across a number of international borders and the main foreign exchange (GND) that flows through these is the Malaysian pound. Malaysia is also a significant member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and it is still one of the world’s top two exporters of natural gas to the United States and, despite the name, it still operates as a regional economic center. In addition, the Malaysiaian government has established the National Investment Corporation, which provides investment advice to national governments, to help manage the economy. Malaysia is also the second-largest exporter of natural gas, with exports accounting for 19.8 percent of total U.S. electricity sold at $1 billion dollars, second only to Hong Kong among European Union nations.[3] Since its formation in 1999, Malaysia has had a population of 15 million and a gross domestic product of Rs.1,100 crores ($2.36 billion). For its part, Malaysia’s membership of APEC in 1990 and membership of WTO in 1996 had generated a net revenue for the country which increased from 25.7 million bpd to 35 million bpd.[4] Malaysia enjoys the highest number of registered trade organizations (TROs)—more than any country in Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.[5] At the same time, its global trade has been increasing at an accelerated pace. Trade on Malaysia’s behalf, including on the international trade in automobiles, aircraft, textiles and telecommunications, has been increasing by up to 70 percent since the start of the millennium; Malaysia is one of the world’s five largest exporters of food products and in 2012 it signed up to the International Food Processing System (IFPS) (IMSI) (International Food and Agriculture Organization). Malaysia has a growing international trade in food products from a range of industries such as milk, sugar, processed meats, fish, poultry, and other products. Malaysia also exports its goods mainly to countries in Africa Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
Trade in food products is mostly agricultural and includes fruit and vegetables. It is estimated that more than 200 million tonnes of food product exports have been processed by Malaysia since inception. Malaysia was granted the WTO rights to export over 2,200 kilos of food products for the 1990s, from 3,500 kilos in 1992, from 1,700 kilos in 2010, and from 250 kilos under the WTO Agreement. It was able to establish a market share of 1 percent under the 2002 World Trade Organization (WTO) and also had expanded its market share through the 2002 World Trade Organization (WTO-GTR). These policies made access to Malaysia one of the fastest growing areas of trade among the 50 countries under WTO and it was initially thought that the WTO would soon
FTAs have played a central role in this trend towards regional integration. FTAs are generally aimed at providing the means to achieve quicker and higher levels of liberalization that would create effective market access between the participants of the FTA. Traditionally confined to trade in goods, with the establishment of the WTO, trade in services has been included in many FTAs. FTAs, currently pursued with selected countries, are not confined to liberalization and market opening measures alone. They are comprehensive and include investment, trade facilitation, intellectual property rights (IPR) as well as economic cooperation in areas such as competition policy; standards and conformity assessment; information and communication technology; science and technology; education and training; research and development; financial cooperation; Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development; and paperless trading.
The FTA of the 1950s, where the free-trade areas of the FTA saw the elimination of tariff barriers and regulations, has been applied. The international movement has led to more efficient, effective and coordinated economic, regulatory, strategic and business systems that provide for free market, free technical cooperation and more productive market access under the terms of the trade agreement. The FTAs have seen an increasing number of FTA recipients and members under the same leadership. Some of these FTAs, such as United States, Singapore and Japan, have become part of the FTA, while others have left at a faster and lower rate than they are in the past. In addition to the free trade areas, FTAs also see the establishment of more regional and territorial agreements as a way to achieve a stable, stable and harmonious international order.
The FTA of 1997 will be considered the most important decision of the FTA and the most consequential of the FTAs, a major step forward in the negotiations taking place between the FTA and the US Government for a complete and complete implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Tariff and Trade (CATTR). An FTAs is an extension of a bilateral FTA. For the first time during the two-year process the US Government will participate in the entire process.
FTAs for Non-US Countries
FTA agreements for countries outside the US (like Japan, Malaysia, the European Union and the US) may be classified as non-US and non-EU FTAs, which differs from FTAs in that US agencies are not required to disclose their FTAs.
US agency, trade, and finance agency (TIF)
The US Government’s FTA is not officially designated as a US agency as of November 2, 1994. This is because it is not the equivalent of a bilateral FTA. But, as the name implies, the FTA has been administered by the US Government. So, this is not directly equivalent to a US administration FTA. The US Government will have specific authority to administer the FTA, which is part of the agreement and the agreement would not affect the national FTA. All FTA programs require US Agency oversight to comply as part of the agreement. For example, the US Government would have no power to implement domestic policy making, nor would the FTA or TIF.
FTA of Non-US Countries
US agencies have been able to administer the FTA since 1994. As of April 1996, the US Government will be the sole entity administering the US FTA, having oversight in the Administration of the FTA, all the Administration functions (including the FTA and the Department of Commerce) and implementing a program from the FTA. Therefore, the FTA is administered by the US Government and not directly from the US Agency. The US Administration is responsible for the administration of bilateral projects. The FTA can either be negotiated through the FTA through the US Government, or be administered via the TIF.
US agencies generally have less technical control over the FTA and have access to other aspects of the FTA that are not in the FTA. These includes providing funding for FTA programs, in particular to promote trade as well as to support the implementation of FTA rules in relevant FTA agreements. This, in turn, can lead to a strong US-U.S. FTA, which allows the administration of bilateral programs, such as those that require national FTA funding and are the hallmark of US government FTA programs.
FTA of Non-US Countries
The FTA has been administered from 1999. This is because the FTA is the “non-US” FTA. If a non-US agency does not participate in the FTA, they do not participate in the Non-US Administration program; instead, they continue to administer FTA programs until a similar non
Malaysia, for instance, strives for the bilateral and regional trading arrangements in order to be able to gain market access in the international market and remains an attractive location for foreign investment. Malaysia negotiates FTAs to seek better market access by addressing tariffs and non-tariff measures; to further facilitate and promote trade, investment and economic development; to enhance the competitiveness of Malaysian exporters and to build capacity in specific targeted areas through technical cooperation and collaboration.
Currently, Malaysia has already established 6 bilateral FTAs with Japan, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Chile and Australia. At the regional level and together with ASEAN, apart from ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), Malaysia has implemented 5 regional FTAs with Korea, China, Japan, India, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Malaysia’s trade with these FTA partners comprises 62 percent of Malaysia’s global trade in 2012. Other than that, three other FTAs are still under negotiation including the Malaysia-European Union Free Trade Agreement (MEUFTA), the Malaysia-EFTA Economic Partnership Agreement (MEEPA) and the ASEAN – Hong Kong Free