US Ambassador to Malaysia James Keith (Chinese name Qi Jin Mu) pointed out that there was no further decision for Malaysia and the United States to proceed with another round of Malaysia-US Free Trade Agreement. Ambassador James Keith said that at this moment, the United States would focus on seeing the development of a more influential "Pan-Pacific Partnership Agreement" (Trans Pacific Partnership). He also invited Malaysia to join this new Pan Malaysian Partnership Agreement as one of the members.
The US envoy to Malaysia said both the United States and Malaysia have used almost three years to carry out the Malaysia-US FTA negotiations. Nevertheless, since President Obama became the US President, the US Government has reviewed the goal of its global bi-lateral trade ties with other countries and agreed on the formation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership" trade framework.
Ambassador James Keith will leave Malaysia on 15 March to take out new assignment in another country. James Keith will go the Afghan capital Kabul on 15 May to take up the new diplomatic post as the US Deputy Ambassador in Afghanistan.
Trans Pacific Agreement
US Ambassador to Malaysia James Keith said that countries that have already signed the Trans Pacific Agreement have included Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Brunei, Peru, Australia, Vietnam and the United States. He added that this new trade agreement would not only strengthen the multilateral trade ties within the region the Agreement would also provide employment opportunities to many countries.
He said: "Pan-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a high quality trade agreement. We hope that more countries in the Asia-Pacific region can actively participate in this Agreement in order to open more multilateral trade markets."
Ambassador James Keith described the US bilateral trade relationships in a number of Southeast Asian countries as becoming increasingly complicated. As such it became necessary to develop a more transparent trade framework to boost and enhance regional countries' confidence in dealing with trade issues.
Ambassador James Keith also commented that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was an attractive regional framework. He said that if the United States could establish a trade agreement with ASEAN, both the United States and ASEAN countries should be able to reap many benefits. Such trade agreement between the United States and ASEAN should be better than the US bi-lateral trade ties with Malaysia or the US bi-lateral trade ties with Vietnam.
Ambassador James Keith also mentioned that US Trade Representative will visit Malaysia in the very near future. He hoped that the Malaysian Government could seriously consider such a suggestion mentioned by him.
Reaching Consensus on Many Issues
US Ambassador Qi Jin Mu said that Malaysia and the United States had gradually reached a consensus on many issues. These have included the fight against terrorists, the fight against weapons proliferation, export controls, global trade and topics such as religion and culture.
He said: "In the future, Malaysia and the United States will reach consensus on more issues. Both countries can share mutual benefits and can have many opportunities to get in touch with each other. This is a very positive development. I believe this US-Malaysia relationship will continue to develop even better and bring more benefits to both the nations."
The US Ambassador to Malaysia said that although on certain issues, Malaysia and the United States might hold different views but gradually the two countries will reach a consensus. As such Malaysia and the United States could expand bilateral ties in other related fields.
Ambassador James Keith also pointed out that Prime Minister Najib Razak would pay official visit to the United States to discuss global nuclear security issues. To him this was the best evidence to show that Malaysia and the United States have strengthened bilateral relationship further.
The US envoy added that US President Barack Obama and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have a vast space to strengthen Malaysia-US bilateral relations in the future because both the Malaysian and US Governments have kept carrying out reform for their respective country.
Strengthening Bilateral Ties
Ambassador James Keith said that during his years as US Ambassador to Malaysia, he was indeed very glad to see US President Obama and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib have respectively taken pro-active effort to strengthen Malaysia-US bilateral ties.
James Keith said: "Both countries have put in many effort to improve the bilateral ties in many fields. These include strengthening ties in the field of security, bi-lateral trade ties and people to people exchange. I am very happy about such development."
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