EFTA and Malaysia hold twelfth round of trade negotiations

Ambassador Markus Schlagenhof from Switzerland, Delegate of the Swiss Federal Council for Trade Agreements, acted as EFTA spokesperson, whereas Senior Director, Ms Sumathi Balakrishnan from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry headed the Malaysian delegation.

EFTA and Malaysia held in-depth discussions in the following areas: trade in goods and services, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade remedies, rules of origin, trade facilitation, investment, government procurement, trade and sustainable development, intellectual property rights, cooperation and capacity building, legal, horizontal and institutional provisions, and dispute settlement. They concluded the negotiations on the trade remedies provisions and on the annex on trade facilitation.

Delegations will pursue their exchanges at expert level before meeting for a 13^th round in October 2022.

Total trade between the Parties has grown steadily over the last ten years. In 2021 EFTA States exported goods worth USD 945 million to Malaysia, an increase of 4.65% since 2020. Imports from Malaysia totalled USD 1.29 billion in 2021, an increase of 29% since 2020.

In 2021 the EFTA States exported mainly pharmaceutical products (22.37%), machinery (16.89%), electronics (12.62%) and technical instruments (11.07%). The main imports in 2021 were electronics (39.39%), rubber (18.2%), machinery (13.03%), and technical instruments (12.41%). Total trade between the parties continues to increase in 2022.

EFTA's full report of the meeting is available here.

Read more about merchandise trade between EFTA and Malaysia here.