The
Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities and the Malaysian
Rubber Board jointly organised an industry consultation on Free Trade
Agreements (FTAs) on 25 February 2009. Recognizing the importance
of the FTAs to the rubber industry, this session was held with the
objective of updating the industry on the latest status on past and
current FTA's negotiated and to get feedback and inputs from the industry.
The consultation session was officiated by Mr Quah Swee Kheng, Deputy Director General (Policy and Operations), Malaysian Rubber Board. The session was briefed by three speakers and was chaired by Tuan Haji Dr Suarni Sumormo, Director of the Economics and Rubber Exchange Division from MRB. Mr Tan Beng Swee from the International Relations Division, Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities presented a paper titled "Briefing Session on the Progress of FTAs" followed by briefings from Puan Norhafizah Zahari and Mr Ang Chai Seng from MRB. Other papers presented touched on the implications to trade with regards to the Malaysia-Japan FTA, ASEAN-Korea FTA and ASEAN-China FTA.
During the consultation/dialogue session, industry members were able to interact and discuss on related issues facing the rubber industry and also provided favourable solutions to overcome problems faced in order to further improve market access in our trading partner countries.