Front Page	E-mail PagePrint Version

Lead US negotiator says first round of talks went better than expected

PENANG, Malaysia - 06/21/06 - The first week of US-Malaysia free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations ended on a positive note and placed the two sides in a good position to reach agreement in 2006, according to the lead US negotiator.

In a conference call from Penang, Malaysia, Barbara Weisel, assistant US trade representative for Southeast Asia, said no surprising complications emerged during the first round.

"On the contrary, the discussions were more productive and more constructive than some of us thought they would be," said Weisel. "The Malaysians ... came extremely well prepared for this negotiation."

"There's every reason to believe that they're serious about trying to conclude this negotiation by the end of the year," she added.

The two sides exchanged proposed texts for an FTA and set up 22 working groups.

They identified the politically sensitive issues for each side, including autos and procurement for Malaysia and textiles for the US, said Weisel.

Weisel said the two sides discussed the problem of illegal logging of threatened tropical tree species in Malaysia. A wider discussion with Indonesia, Singapore and other countries in the region might be a better way to resolve that issue, she added.

The next round of negotiations is scheduled for mid-July in Washington.

After the upcoming Washington talks, there will be three more rounds of negotiations to be held on September 17, October 30, and December 11.

"In the first round, both sides laid out issues, questions and concerns so that we can identify the sensitivities and opportunities both sides are seeking," said Weisel. "When we get to the second round, we start to go through the text in detail and would also go through the market access portion and tariffs."
 
Washington's goal is to conclude FTA negotiations with Malaysia and South Korea by December, well ahead of expiration in July 2007 of the president's trade negotiating authority, called Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), or fast track.

Under TPA, Congress restricts itself only to approve or reject a negotiated trade agreement, within strict time limits and without amendments.

Malaysia is the US' 10th-largest trading partner with $44 billion in two-way trade in 2005.  A US business group has estimated that two-way trade could double in five years with an FTA.

The US already has an FTA with Malaysia's neighbor Singapore. The first round of US-Korea FTA negotiations took place the week of June 5.  US FTA negotiations with Thailand started in 2004 but have since stalled.

Go back, or read the latest Front Page stories:

Korea, US Free Trade Pact ''Possible'' by Early 2007

WASHINGTON, DC – 10/25/06 – A free trade pact between the US and South Korea could become a reality by early 2007, says chief US negotiator Wendy Cutler at the opening of this week’s fourth round of talks between the two countries; since the two sides launched FTA negotiations in February they have reported little progress even though they postponed consideration of the most politically sensitive issues, such as US access to the Korean rice market.