NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, YB Liew Chin Tong, on Wednesday expressed optimism about finalizing the review of the ASEAN-India Trade Agreement in Goods by the end of 2025.
“This year, Malaysia is the chair of ASEAN and the coordinator of the ASEAN-India trade agreement. We are hoping that our aspirations of concluding the trade agreement review by the end of this year will be realized,” Liew told PTI.
Malaysia, India’s third-largest trading partner within ASEAN, recorded a bilateral trade of USD 20.02 billion during 2023-24, accounting for approximately 17 per cent of India’s total trade with the 10-nation bloc.
He described the deal as an “overarching framework” that could elevate the existing Malaysia-India economic partnership, in place since 2011.
The minister also hoped to deepen defence ties with collaboration between the industries of the two nations.
“The whole industry, as well as the ICT industry, and the new generation of defence corporations can be based upon technology. Defence technology is crucial, and we hope to work with each other,” Liew said.
He urged both nations to identify opportunities for co-developing new ideas and addressing gaps in the supply chain, particularly in light of recent decisions by the Trump administration.
“The world has changed very much, especially now in the second term of President Trump. We will have to go beyond pure trade, to look at collaboration, building markets for each other, and deeper connections at every level,” he added.
The minister emphasized the need for confidence-building and mutual understanding to encourage businesses to adopt trade settlement in national currencies.
“We are much ahead of most other countries, and we hope to lead the way once business-to-business confidence is built,” he said. (PTI)
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