Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala says Malaysia shall be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) so as to strengthen the country’s economic position in global trends.

Stressing that this was his personal view, Idris said it would be very hard for Malaysia to join TPPA later on once the mega treaty has been signed.

“We shall be part of the early powers so that we have the ability to share influence and agreement, to make sure we get the deal,” he said.

“This is an ongoing negotiation and the agreement had not signed yet.

“And we can’t negotiate with all cards opened. Eventually this has to go back to the cabinet and we will look at it, whether we like it or not,” he said.

NONE “For the folks who are critical to the government, we know the areas that are critical and important to us,” said Idris ( left ) after conducting a briefing on the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) at the Securities Commission today.

Idris, who is a former chief executive officer (CEO) of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), stated the example of the airline not joining the SkyTeam global alliance several years back.

At that time, he said, MAS used to be the only regional airline that had yet to join the global alliance and the national carrier lost connectivity of passengers, especially transit flights between countries.

“It was very hard for us to join later on because we are not part of the early founders of this (SkyTeam),” added Idris.

Idris also regarded the TPPA as a good opportunity for Malaysia to penetrate the oil palm market of the United States.

“We can use the TPPA to extend and increase our share of utilisation or demand of oil palm in the market, and also to China,” he said.

On the ETP briefing, Idris announced that 86 percent or RM25.42 million in committed investments for projects in 2011 and 2012 had been realised.

“The realisation rate of these investments is healthy and we are on track towards meeting our targets for the year,” he said.