Malaysian PM says to continue pursuing FTAs, including RCEP

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Thursday that his government will continue to pursue bilateral and multilateral trade pacts, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

"We are still working on the RCEP. When that is concluded, investors here will be able to tap into a region with a combined GDP of $22.5 trillion, and a population of more than 3.5 billion people," Najib said in his keynote speech at the Malaysia Nikkei Business Forum.

He said Malaysia will continue to expand its global network through multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), thus allowing investors in Malaysia to gain greater market access for their products and services in the region.

According to him, Malaysia has so far implemented seven bilateral FTAs and six regional FTAs with major trading partners such as Japan, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Turkey.

China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has also been added to the list with the signing of ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement earlier this month.

RCEP, a proposed FTA between the ten members of ASEAN and Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, is expected to be signed in 2018.