New Malaysian trade minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said on Thursday his government was in no rush to conclude negotiations for a free-trade pact which the United States. The Bush administration has said that it hopes to negotiate such a treaty before the president leaves office next January. Yassin said outstanding issues remained to be resolved by both sides. “Of course the U.S. might want to pursue and see how best we can reconcile, but there are certain things which we have to work out,” he said, according to the state Bernama news agency. Negotiations resumed in January after a year-long pause during which talks bogged down over a number of issues, including Malaysia’s affirmative action policies for its majority ethnic Malays. The U.S. had been racing to conclude the agreement before last June when President Bush lost Trade Promotion Authority enabling him to 'fast-track’ new deals through Congress without changes. Yassin said Thursday that the Malaysian government is not in a hurry to conclude such an agreement, and “we will take our time.” He said his top priority is to ensure that such a pact provides long-term benefits both for the government and the Malaysian business community.
Journal of Commerce
