By DPA,
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysia and India Friday inked a trade agreement expected to boost annual bilateral trade to $15 billion by 2015.
The pact, due to come into force July 1, was signed by Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his Malaysian counterpart, Mustapa Mohamed, in Malaysia’s administrative capital, Putrajaya.
The agreement is to complement an existing free trade deal between India and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Malaysia is a member.
The new pact covers services, investments, technical barriers to trade and other areas that were excluded in the regional agreement, Mustapa said.
Under the agreement, the two countries are to allow up to 100-percent foreign shareholding in more than 80 sectors, including health care, telecommunications, retail and environmental services.
“I am very confident that when the agreement comes into force, the bilateral trade target that we have set at $15 billion by 2015 will be attained, if not earlier,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said.
As of 2009, trade between the two countries totalled $7.3 billion.
India was Malaysia’s 13th-largest trading partner in 2010, and Malaysian authorities said Indian investments in Malaysia totalled $15.9 million last year.