Malaysian and US trade officials today resumed negotiations for a free trade deal after a year's break, in a last-ditch bid to reach agreement before mid-year, a US official said.

Earlier rounds of talks towards a trade pact became bogged down over a number of issues, including Malaysia's affirmative action policies for its majority ethnic Malays.

Malaysia has said it will not sacrifice its national interests in order to forge a deal with the US.

"The meetings this week will hopefully provide negotiators with an idea of whether it will be possible to conclude these negotiations by this summer," US embassy spokesperson Kathryn Taylor told AFP .

"Both our countries have our own political considerations with elections expected in Malaysia this year and the US in the middle of our own scheduled election process," she added.

"Who's to say what the priorities of a new administration in Washington might be next year?"

Taylor said the four-day meeting was a result of a continuous dialogue between both sides since formal talks ended in February 2007.

"Although there have been no formal meetings in the last year, both sides have been busy meeting intercessionally through face-to-face visits and conference calls and this has provided much more flexibility in discussing issues rather than in full negotiations," she said.

Resolve issues first

Washington had been racing to conclude the agreement before June last year when US President George Bush lost his Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) which enabled him to "fast-track" trade deals through Congress.

Malaysian anti-FTA groups say they have yet to receive any information on the fate of outstanding issues that the two sides had been unable to resolve in February last year.

"When the talks deadlocked last year, they said there were 58 issues to resolve regarding the FTA before talks can be resumed, so we want to know what has happen to these issues?" protest coordinator Kohila Yanasekaran told AFP .

"What happened to the issues relating to GM labelling and the farmers, what will happen to them?" she said, referring to concerns over whether the deal would harm Malaysian agricultural producers.

"All we ask is for them to stop the talks until the issues are resolved."