YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia attended the 8th Summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) at the invitation of His Excellency Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council and His Excellency Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Belgium. The 8th ASEM Summit was held on 4 – 5 October 2010 in Brussels, Belgium. YAB Prime Minister was accompanied by YB Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman. Other members of delegation were senior officials of the Office of Prime Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).
YAB Prime Minister took the opportunity to have bilateral meetings with His Excellency Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council on 4 October 2010, and with His Excellency José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission on 5 October 2010 at the sidelines of the Summit.
YAB Prime Minister took the opportunity to have bilateral meetings with His Excellency Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council on 4 October 2010, and with His Excellency José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission on 5 October 2010 at the sidelines of the Summit.
YAB Prime Minister and the EU leaders expressed their satisfaction at the present state of relations and cooperation between Malaysia and the EU. YAB Prime Minister and the EU leaders discussed a wide of range of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest in particular enhanced bilateral relations and new initiatives for cooperation.
YAB Prime Minister and the EU leaders reaffirmed their commitment towards further strengthening bilateral relations and mutual collaboration in various areas. In terms of trade and investment, both sides noted that a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Malaysia and the EU will serve to enhance market access opportunities as well as improve existing economic linkages.
During the bilateral meeting between YAB Prime Minister and His Excellency José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, both sides agreed to commence negotiations on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) as well as the Malaysia – EU FTA (MEUFTA) before the end of the year.
Malaysia views the EU as a valuable partner to Malaysia. In 2009, the EU accounted for 11.2 percent of Malaysia’s global trade and 10.8 percent of Malaysia’s total exports. Realised Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the EU into Malaysia as of 31 December 2009 amounted to USD 13.6 billion, mainly in the manufacturing sector, including electrical & electronics, chemicals & chemical products as well as rubber products. As a regional grouping, the EU remains Malaysia’s largest source of FDI.
It is in the light of the significance of this trade and investment relationship that Malaysia considers the commencement of the PCA and the FTA talks as an important step to elevate the bilateral relations with the EU. The eventual conclusion of the PCA is expected to further strengthen the cooperation between Malaysia and the EU in many areas including political relations, trade and investment, science and technology, health, energy, transport, agriculture, banking, maritime and other areas through dialogues and exchange of information. The scoping exercise for MEUFTA was completed in July 2010. Both sides agreed and adopted a Joint Scoping Paper (JSP) that outlines each others’ ambitions, concerns and interests with regard to the FTA. The JSP is a comprehensive document, both in terms of scope and depth of coverage. It will be used as a guiding document to the negotiators once the FTA talks commence. MEUFTA is expected to progressively enhance market access opportunities for trade in goods and services, liberalise the investment regimes in Malaysia and the EU, as well as provide for economic cooperation activities with a view to enable compliance to standards and conformance requirements. Given Malaysia’s regional network of FTAs, the MEUFTA has the added potential of enhancing Malaysia’s role as an important production base in the region.
