Malaysian Foreign Minister Kadir looks forward to reviewing the 2011 Trade Pact with India

According to Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir, the country is strengthening the framework for carrying out commerce in national currencies and starting the process of reviewing the 12-year-old comprehensive economic cooperation agreement to cover new areas and products.

After spending three days in India, Kadir told PTI that both countries are eager to increase trade cooperation in novel and developing sectors including semiconductors, electronics, fintech, renewable energy, new technology, and startups.

The topic of much discussion at Tuesday night’s meetings between Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Indian counterpart was how to improve the general trajectory of ties.

When asked about India’s long-standing request that Malaysia extradite preacher Zakir Naik, who is on the run, Kadir said Kuala Lumpur is more interested in bolstering institutional structures to increase security cooperation than it is in concentrating on any one person.

In India, Naik is being investigated by many agencies for a number of offenses, including terrorism-related activity and using hate speech to incite extremism. In 2016, he departed India.

In addition, Kadir conveyed Malaysia’s appreciation to India for supplying 170,000 metric tons of non-basmati white rice to Malaysia at a period of severe rice scarcity.

Non-basmati white rice exports from India were prohibited in July, but this month, the prohibition was removed for a select group of nations.

In response to a query on the rising South China Sea tensions due to China’s growing aggressiveness, Kadir said that Malaysia and the other ASEAN members do not want this region to become into a “flashpoint” or a venue for “big power” rivalry.

He said that both sides are finalizing the framework for doing commerce in national currencies and listed other steps to increase bilateral trade between Malaysia and India.

“We want to use it, and it may be advantageous to both nations. We believe that this action will make the local currencies stronger,” he said late on Tuesday evening.

Beyond the current system of utilizing easily convertible currencies like the US dollar for trade settlements, India is in discussions with other partner nations to create alternative arrangements in national currencies.

The Foreign Minister of Malaysia also said that he and Jaishankar spoke about the need of reviewing the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which went into force in July 2011.

“We feel there is a need to have a re-look at it to include new areas of trade like the digital economy and other emerging areas,” Kadir said.

The CECA addresses investments, commerce in products and services, and international travel.

The foreign minister of Malaysia also said that his nation is eager to increase defense cooperation with India, including the purchase of military gear and platforms.
When asked whether Malaysia is eager to purchase BrahMos supersonic missiles from India, Kadir replied that the appropriate ministries of both countries will investigate all pertinent matters in order to strengthen their defense cooperation.