Study Pros And Cons Of Malaysia Korea Fta Before Resuming It Says Azmin

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Former minister Azmin Ali said that under the existing Asean-Korea free trade agreement, South Korea has already agreed to eliminate duties on 91% of its tariff lines, and Malaysia on 83.5% of its tariff lines.PETALING JAYA: Former economic affairs minister Azmin Ali has panned the resumption of the Malaysia-Korea free trade agreement (MKFTA), which he says will leave Malaysia at a disadvantage as it will have to remove duties on substantially more goods than South Korea.
In a statement today, he called on the investment, trade and industry ministry to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and make it publicly available before a decision is made regarding the agreement’s resumption.
Azmin said that under the existing Asean-Korea free trade agreement, to which Malaysia is already a party, South Korea has already agreed to eliminate duties on 91% of its tariff lines, and Malaysia on 83.5% of its tariff lines.
He said the MKFTA’s stipulated liberalisation threshold of 92% would force Malaysia to compensate with more removal of duties than South Korea, which only needs to improve on about 1% of its offers.
“While I understand that the MKFTA will also cover other areas such as economic cooperation, digital and green economy, supply chain and bio-economy, outcomes in these areas are usually collaborative in nature.
“They may not necessarily commensurate with the sacrifices that Malaysia will need to make by removing duties across 1,600-plus products,” he said.
Earlier, South Korean trade minister Cheong In-kyo said the two countries were anticipating to restart bilateral FTA negotiations which had stalled since 2019.
The scope of the FTA will cover new areas such as service, investment, digital and biotechnology, he said.
He said that despite South Korea’s existing FTA with Asean, the country is seeking to broaden economic ties with individual members through separate free trade deals.
Malaysia is the third-largest trading partner for South Korea in Southeast Asia. - FMT

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