Malaysia faces daunting issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations compared to the other 11 countries participating in the talks, according to International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed ( below ).

"We have many outstanding issues still being negotiated including those related to the Bumiputera agenda, government procurement and  government-linked companies," he said while stressing that Malaysia needs to ensure its national interests are not compromised.

"However, in this TPP agreement, it's not just us that are having problems as other countries like the US and others also have issues such as with labour policy [...] what is different is the level of difficulty and Malaysia has the most daunting problems."

He was speaking to the told the media after presenting a briefing on the Asean Economic Community, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the TPP in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Potential benefits

Mustapa said in the negotiations, the government will also not compromise on the country's constitutional monarchy system.

"Early in the TPP negotiations, we resolved that there would not be any  changes to our parliamentary system," he explained.

He said the government still sees Malaysia's involvement in the negotiations as bringing potential benefits to the country including easier access to global markets and enhancing the country's competitiveness.

Malaysia joined the TPPA negotiations in October 2010, the ninth country to do so. The four-year-old talks, now involving 12 Pacific Rim nations, are aimed at lowering trade barriers across a wide range of sectors.

- Bernama