Visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (left) and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak shake hands after their news conference at the latter's office in Putrajaya. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA and India announced on Wednesday that a long delayed trade accord between the two countries would take effect by July 2011, doubling two-way trade to 15 billion US dollars (S$19.6 billion) by 2015.
'I'm glad to officially announce that the agreement will come into effect in 2011. That will signify a huge strategic move... and establish a strategic and stronger bilateral relationship,' Prime Minister Najib Razak told a joint news conference after a meeting Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
'I'm very confident when this agreement comes into force, the trade targets that we have set, which is basically 15 billion dollars by 2015, will be attained if not earlier,' Mr Najib said.
The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) will cover trade in goods and services, investment and economic cooperation and will be signed by the two sides by January, according to a joint-statement.
Mr Singh arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday for a three-day visit in a bid to bolster ties with Southeast Asia's third largest economy.
India was Malaysia's 12th largest trading partner in 2009. Two-way trade peaked in 2008 at 10.52 billion US dollars but fell to 7.06 billion US dollars in 2009 due to the global economic downturn. -- AFP
