Malaysia is looking at alternatives regarding to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) should the mega trade pact not materialise.

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said among the options the country was looking at included engaging with countries it has no trade agreements through bilateral trade pacts or to pursue the TPPA without the US.

Some countries have talked about it openly (to pursue TPPA). The other option is bilateral. Mexico is a big and important country. For example, Petroliam Nasional Bhd has just got two oil exploration blocks off the Gulf of Mexico.

“A few Malaysian companies are already in Mexico and Canada. That is certainly an option that we are looking at as we are pro-free trade agreements (FTAs) and we have one with Turkey which is doing well.

“We are open to having bilateral pacts with those countries which we do not have FTAs yet,” he told reporters after chairing Malaysia-Vietnam Business Roundtable Meeting in Hanoi today.

Also present were Malaysian Ambassador to Vietnam Mohd Zamruni Khalid; Asean Business Advisory Council chairperson Munir Majid; CIMB Group Holdings Bhd group chief executive officer Tengku Zafrul Aziz; and CIMB Group chairperson Nazir Razak.

Asian countries face significant risks if US president-elect Donald Trump imposes trade barriers and opposes the TPPA, the 12-nation preferential trade agreement that covers about 40 percent of the global economy.

On the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Mustapa said, the participating countries were committed to conclude the talks by end-2017.

“We have lined up a few meetings at the official and the ministerial levels. We have been extending the timeline a few times but we are working hard to make sure that the talks would be completed by then,” he said.

At the roundtable business meeting, Mustapa also launched the ministry’s Hanoi office, its fourth office in South-East Asia, after Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore.

Mustapa would also lead the delegation to make a courtesy call on Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang and meet Deputy Minister of Investment and Planning Dang Huy Dong, to discuss ways to further enhance economic relations between both countries.

- Bernama