Vajpayee seeks gateway to ASEAN during KL visit
Vajpayee seeks gateway to ASEAN during KL visit
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vaypayee started a four-day visit to Malaysia on Sunday, seeking to build on centuries-old links to open a trade gateway to Southeast Asia.
Vajpayee arrived on Sunday evening aboard a special Air India jet, accompanied by a 135-member delegation including 75 businessmen.
Trade deals -- including a proposal to swap Malaysian palmoil for Indian role in a major railway contract -- will top the agenda for the trip, an attempt to consolidate India's "Look East" policy.
"Our history of cultural and commercial linkages has been good for centuries," Indian High Commissioner (ambassador) Veena Sikri told AFP.
"Malaysia can be India's gateway to ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to increase India's trade in the ASEAN region.
"It's a win-win situation for both countries... cooperation between India and Malaysia is a genuine example of South-South cooperation," Sikri added.
"We are looking ahead to a more active trade and investment relationship."
India is one of the world's largest information technology software producers while Malaysia has very good IT infrastructure and a hardware industry, she said.
Infrastructure deals would also figure prominently, with Malaysian firms already building roads in India and Indian companies involved in railways here.
The biggest potential deal is a contract for the double- tracking and electrification of 300 kilometers (186 miles) of railway line from the northern city of Ipoh up to the Thai border.
The total cost is an estimated six to seven billion ringgit ($1.6-1.8 billion).
If Malaysia's proposal is accepted, the five-year project would be paid for through annual Indian imports of up to 1.6 million tons of palmoil.
Asked on Friday if the deal could be concluded during Vaypayee's visit, Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik replied: "I don't foresee any problem."
Malaysia's foreign ministry said agreements or memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on finance, information technology, services and the stock exchange were expected to be signed at government level.
Businessmen were expected to sign deals or MOUs on aerospace technology, trade promotion and high technology software applications.
Sikri said agreements on information technology services, avoidance of double taxation, civil service cooperation, tourism and scientific research would be signed.
Vajpayee will on Monday call on his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad, attend a high-powered business forum Tuesday and deliver a lecture Wednesday before leaving that afternoon.
The current trade balance is sharply tilted in Malaysia's favor, with India exporting goods worth $434 million and importing products, mainly palmoil, worth two billion dollars in the Indian fiscal year that ended 2000.
"We plan to diversify the existing trade basket which is dominated by goods like meat and cotton from our side and palmoil and electronics from their side," said R.S. Kalha, secretary in India's foreign ministry, last week.
Malaysia will urge India to cut its high tariffs of around 92 percent on imported palmoil, Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik said last week, adding he expected a sympathetic response from Vajpayee.
Malaysia, the world's largest palmoil producer, exported about 2.4 million tons of palmoil to India last year.