Reuters AlertNet Lite - Malaysia groups protest over U.S. trade talks

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Malaysia groups protest over U.S. trade talks

19 Oct 2006 08:05:31 GMT
Source: Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A coalition of 30 rights and opposition groups urged Malaysia on Thursday to halt talks for a free-trade pact with the United States, saying it would not benefit the trade-dependent nation.

Malaysia and the United States, its biggest trade partner foreign investor, are negotiating a free-trade agreement, with both sides saying they hope to reach a deal by year-end.

But since talks began late in June, several areas have emerged as sensitive for Malaysia, including government procurement, the state-controlled automotive industry and foreign ownership in banks and financial institutions.

"We want trade but we don't want to end up signing away our national rights and surrender our livelihood to outsiders," Xavier Jayakumar, head of the Anti America-Malaysia FTA Coalition, told reporters.

"Some 296,000 rice farmers will be affected if there is an influx of cheaper American rice.

"We call upon the government to suspend all negotiations till a comprehensive cost-benefit study is done in an open and transparent manner," Jayakumar said.

The newly formed coalition comprises more than 30 opposition parties, trade unions and non-governmental organisations.

Jayakumar said as many as 10,000 protesters would rally outside the venue of the talks in the Malaysian capital on Oct. 30, which the coalition said would be the first day of the five-day bilateral trade talks.

The two governments, which last met in June, have not published the dates of their next meeting. Malaysian trade officials and American embassy officials declined to comment.

Mainly Muslim Malaysia is Washington's 10th largest trading partner, with more than $44 billion in two-way trade in 2005.

About 85 percent of Malaysia's exports to the United States are already exempt from duties under a programme aimed at increasing trade for developing countries while U.S. exports to the country face tariffs of 6 percent or more.

Malaysia wants increased access to the U.S. textile market and to the U.S. federal government's procurement market -- a market worth $200 billion a year in goods and services, according to the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce.

But Malaysia restricts access to its own government contracts, partly because it uses them to redistribute wealth to ethnic Malays who make up most of the population but own only a fifth of the nation's listed equity.

Malaysia also limits car imports to help its local car-makers and restricts foreign ownership of banks.

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Last updated:Thu Oct 19 08:07:47 2006