M’sia-India trade to hit RM45bil
KUALA LUMPUR: Bilateral trade between Malaysia and India is
expected to breach US$15bil (RM45bil) this year, a fast-forward from the
initial target year of realisation of 2015.
Indian High Commissioner
to Malaysia Vijay K. Gokhale said the movement of goods and services between
Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi was expected to be over US$13bil last year.
Even though the final figures are
yet to be released, the envoy said continuous aggressive implementation of the
Malaysia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement and the
ever-growing domestic demand in India was the major driver of the trade growth.
Between January and October last
year, Malaysia's exports to India totalled US$7.7bil, while imports amounted to
US$3.3bil.
“Trade between Malaysia and India has been growing
between 5% and 6%, which is very good considering that many Malaysian export
data to other countries have shown a slight decrease.
“The trade this year will be fuelled by the proposed
India-Asean FTA (free trade agreement) in services and investment. It is
scheduled to be inked in August this year,” he told Bernama.
During a recent bilateral meet, Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Najib Tun Razak and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh jointly agreed to revise upwards the bilateral trade target
to US$20bil by 2015 from US$15bil previously.
India is one of Malaysia's important trading partners.
Since 1998, India has been Malaysia's largest export destination in the South
Asian region.
Malaysia's major exports to India were electrical and
electronics products, chemicals and chemical products, manufactures of metal
and palm oil while Malaysia's main imports from India were also chemicals and
chemical products, manufactures of meal and meat.
Asked whether Malaysian tourists to India will be granted
the visa on arrival (VOA) facility, Gokhale said: “So far, no. I do not think
the Indian government has so far considered expanding that scheme. It is still
a pilot project with a few countries.”
Last year, the Indian government was
reported to be planning to extend its VOA facility to countries like Thailand
and Malaysia to attract more Buddhism-linked travellers.
Source: The Star
Date : 22 Jan 2013
Afternoon Highlight (22/01/13/14/712)
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