VZCZCXRO5055
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #0571/01 0880249
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290249Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6282
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1359

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KUALA LUMPUR 000571 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EB/TPP/BTA 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR DUSTR BHATIA AND AUSTR B. 
WEISEL 
USDOC FOR DAVID BISBEE AND JENNIFER BAKER 
USDA FAS FOR OA/BIG, ITP/AAD 
GENEVA FOR USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD KIPR MY
SUBJECT: DEPUTY U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE KARAN 
BHATIA'S VISIT TO KUALA LUMPUR - PREPARING FOR THE 
FTA 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified - Not for Internet 
Distribution 
 
Summary and Introduction 
------------------------ 
 
¶1. (SBU) Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan 
Bhatia discussed upcoming negotiations for a U.S.- 
Malaysia Free Trade Agreement with key economic 
officials and a leading Malaysian think tank 
during his March 16-17, 2006 visit to Kuala 
Lumpur.  Ambassador Bhatia's interlocutors 
provided a positive and pragmatic assessment of 
the prospects for the FTA, noting in particular 
that an FTA would support Malaysia's long-term 
economic goal of transitioning the economy towards 
a more advanced technology base.  The upcoming 
launch of Malaysia's five-year economic plan would 
demonstrate more clearly how an FTA would further 
Malaysia's goals.  Many Malaysians are concerned 
that negotiations on government procurement could 
force changes to the government's broader 
socioeconomic policies.  However, our explanation 
of U.S. goals in a government procurement chapter 
seem to be convincing our interlocutors that we 
can reach agreement without overturning Malaysia's 
sensitive preference policies.  Both sides agreed 
to hold the first round of negotiations in 
Malaysia during the week of June 12.  End summary. 
 
Minister Datuk Mohd Effendi Norwawi 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Ambassador Bhatia discussed the Malaysian 
economy and our strengthening bilateral economic 
relations, as exemplified by the launch of FTA 
negotiations, with Minister Effendi Norwawi, 
Minister in the Prime Minister's office.  Effendi 
oversees the Malaysian Economic Planning Unit and 
the National Economic Action Council, and has 
primary responsibility for the Ninth Malaysian 
Plan (9MP), the government's five-year economic 
planning document, expected to be announced March 
¶31.  Bhatia was accompanied by Ambassador LaFleur, 
A/USTR Barbara Weisel, and econoffs. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Effendi told Bhatia that Malaysia viewed 
an FTA with the United States as a positive, 
pragmatic step that would compliment Malaysia's 
primary economic goals.  He noted that  the 9MP 
would be very compatible with our mutual FTA 
goals, in particular through its emphasis on 
attracting more foreign investment to Malaysia in 
order to help steer the economy towards more 
cutting-edge, high technology sectors.  Effendi 
said the government is concerned about increasing 
competition for foreign investment from China and 
India, as well as the rest of Southeast Asia. 
Some statistics show that Malaysia is attracting 
significantly less foreign investment in recent 
years, despite the advantages of modern 
infrastructure and an advanced legal system. 
Effendi said the 9MP would emphasize new sources 
of economic growth, including biotechnology and 
information and communications technology, in 
which the U.S. holds a predominant advantage. 
Increased bilateral cooperation through an FTA 
thus would mesh well with Malaysia's goal of 
seeking a competitive regional edge in these areas 
to help Malaysian companies become global leaders. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Bhatia agreed that the FTA would help 
Malaysia achieve its goal of creating a more 
knowledge-based economy.  He said the disciplines 
created in FTA chapters on investment and IPR 
protection would encourage more U.S. firms to 
invest in these advanced sectors in Malaysia. 
Effendi noted that Malaysia's advanced IP 
legislation and its creation of the Multimedia 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000571  002 OF 004 
 
 
Super Corridor demonstrated the country's 
seriousness about the sector, though he added that 
Malaysia's investment in computer hardware 
development and manufacturing had not been 
followed so far by significant development in 
computer software.  Effendi also suggested that 
increased collaboration between U.S. and Malaysian 
institutions on research and development would be 
a non-controversial but potentially far reaching 
result of an FTA.  Bhatia agreed, and added that 
our other FTAs were followed by a burst of 
cooperation in a range of areas, including tourism 
and education. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Bhatia underscored that a comprehensive 
FTA would need to encompass such areas as 
government procurement.  He emphasized that our 
insistence on such a chapter did not mean that we 
approached FTA negotiations with a goal of 
revising our partner's socioeconomic policies.  He 
added that the United States had its own 
preference programs with regard to government 
procurement.  Effendi acknowledged that government 
procurement would be a particularly difficult 
chapter for FTA negotiators, given the 
socioeconomic conditions that underpin the 
government's procurement policies (conditions that 
include the continued dominance of more than three- 
fifth's of the economy by less than twenty percent 
of the population, he noted).  Nevertheless, 
Effendi said that the government's recent efforts 
to make government procurement more efficient and 
transparent evidenced the government's 
increasingly practical approach that should enable 
negotiators to reach an agreement.  Speaking more 
broadly, Effendi also suggested that the FTA could 
facilitate more partnerships between U.S. firms 
and Bumiputera (ethnic Malay) businesses, and thus 
help further, rather than inhibit, the 
government's socioeconomic development goals. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Bhatia conveyed President Bush's strong 
support for an FTA with Malaysia, and said that we 
would welcome similar expressions of support from 
the PM, either publicly or privately.  He also 
welcomed Minister of International Trade and 
Industry (MITI) Rafidah Aziz's participation in 
the March 8 FTA rollout in Washington, which had 
also attracted a broad range of support within the 
U.S. Congress and among U.S. industries.  Effendi 
said that Malaysia's commercial sector welcomed 
the advent of FTA talks as well and would be an 
ally as we seek to conclude negotiations on an 
accelerated schedule.  He noted that Rafidah's 
strong support for an FTA was rooted in her 
pragmatic approach to seek an agreement that would 
benefit Malaysia.  While not as vocal as Rafidah, 
the PM's strong hand in the development of the 9MP 
likewise indicated his pragmatic, reformist 
approach, in sync with what Malaysia would seek in 
an FTA. 
 
Ministry of International Trade and Industry 
(MITI) 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Bhatia met with MITI Secretary General 
Sidek Hassan and other MITI officials (including 
Deputy Secretary General Ooi Say Chuan and 
principal negotiator Jayasiri) to discuss the 
recent FTA launch and to prepare the way for 
negotiations.  Bhatia emphasized our intention to 
work closely with MITI to present a common public 
stance in the course of negotiations.  He noted 
that USTR necessarily emphasized the benefits of 
the FTA to the U.S. in its publicly released 
documents, but the United States clearly believed 
that the FTA would be of benefit to Malaysia as 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000571  003 OF 004 
 
 
well.  Sidek noted that FTAs, in particular the 
recently completed Malaysia-Japan economic 
cooperation agreement as well as the pending FTA 
with the U.S., were receiving increasing attention 
both within the Malaysian parliament and among non- 
state actors in Malaysia.  MITI already had heard 
from NGOs such as the Consumers Association of 
Penang with concerns that a developing country 
like Malaysia would be at a disadvantage in 
negotiating FTAs with developed countries.  Sidek 
said MITI plans to engage with concerned NGOs 
before and during the negotiations, but would do 
so privately.  Jayasiri and Ooi both suggested 
that the U.S. should concentrate its in-country 
FTA engagement on relevant business stakeholders, 
and leave MITI to handle NGO concerns. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Bhatia said his visit demonstrated the 
United States' strong commitment to successful FTA 
negotiations.  His diverse schedule of meetings 
was a means to further exchange views in advance 
of the talks.  He strongly suggested that Malaysia 
do likewise by raising the level of its engagement 
in Washington.  USTR would keep Congress informed 
of our progress as we moved through the 
negotiations, but Congress would also expect more 
direct interaction with senior Malaysian 
officials.  Such contact would be crucial in 
building a coalition on the Hill in favor of FTA 
ratification.  Bhatia called for both sides to 
conduct ambitious negotiations in order to 
demonstrate the real, positive changes that an FTA 
would bring for both economies.  Sidek noted that 
MITI, including Minister Rafidah, was already 
feeling political heat regarding possible changes 
to Malaysia's government procurement policies as a 
result of the FTA. Weisel responded that USTR 
wished to discuss government procurement with MITI 
in more detail prior to the first round so that 
both sides would be well prepared to negotiate the 
procurement chapter. Bhatia said that negotiations 
of all parts of the FTA must be pragmatic.  He 
emphasized that the U.S. would not seek to 
overturn Malaysia's socioeconomic policies through 
an FTA.  Sidek responded that negotiators should 
be able to reach a common position that would be 
acceptable to both sides. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Turning to logistical issues, Sidek said 
Malaysia agreed to the dates suggested earlier by 
USTR for five rounds of negotiations during the 
weeks of June 12, July 17, September 17, October 
30, and December 11.  Both sides agreed that the 
first round would be held in Malaysia, probably in 
Kuala Lumpur, while the second round would likely 
take place in the western United States. 
 
Institute of Strategic and International Studies 
(ISIS) 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
----- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Senior officials of this leading 
Malaysian think tank provided Ambassador Bhatia an 
outside, relatively independent Malaysian view of 
the prospects for an FTA between the U.S. and 
Malaysia.  Assistant Director General Steven Wong 
told Bhatia that the time was right politically 
for Malaysia to negotiate an FTA, as the current 
government had demonstrated the will to negotiate 
an agreement, and conclusion of the FTA was slated 
to occur well before the next round of national 
elections take place.  Wong warned that there will 
be significant resistance to some of the measures 
that the U.S. will propose in the course of FTA 
talks, especially regarding services 
liberalization, but that such reform will be 
necessary sooner or later even absent an FTA, 
given the direction of liberalization in the WTO 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000571  004 OF 004 
 
 
and through the ASEAN FTA.  Wong said that the 
government wants the Malaysian economy to continue 
to evolve into new areas, but for political 
purposes likely would not promote the FTA in a 
very public way.  Wong's colleague Stephen Leong 
noted that the United States was an attractive 
destination for Malaysian investment, but that 
Malaysia is increasingly concentrating its foreign 
investment closer to home, particularly in China 
(in the manufacturing sector) and in India (in 
telecommunications).  Leong added that one of the 
tenets of Malaysian foreign economic policy was 
"prosper thy neighbor," thus its interests in 
investing closer to home, but he said the 
government would seek investment wherever it made 
sense. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Wong and Leong said that Trade Minister 
Rafidah would be the key decision maker on most 
aspects of the FTA.  They suggested that the 
Cabinet would look to the Prime Minister for 
guidance when it comes to any particularly 
controversial decisions related to the FTA, 
however, adding that they believed the PM should 
be able to overcome any dissent if that is his 
desire. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Bhatia's interlocutors were uniformly 
positive about the prospects of the U.S.-Malaysia 
FTA.  They also conveyed an expectation that 
Malaysians would judge an FTA with the United 
States to support Malaysia's primary economic 
development objectives, and thus an FTA would be 
broadly welcomed in the end.  For now government 
procurement appears to be the most prominent 
potential impediment.  However, we believe 
additional education of our negotiating partners 
on our government procurement sector (including 
our own preference programs and the opportunities 
that will be created for Malaysian firms to bid on 
USG procurements), in particular before the first 
round, would help alleviate GOM concerns and pave 
the way for productive negotiations of this 
chapter. 
 
¶13. (U) Ambassador Bhatia has cleared this cable. 
 
LAFLEUR