Malaysia in Talks for Free Trade Agreement with UAE and GCC Nations to Boost Economic Ties

Malaysia is working hard to secure an FTA with the GCC as it searches for new opportunities to boost its economic connection with the area. Yesterday, in an interview with Bernama, Malaysia’s Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry, Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said that the country is currently negotiating to wrap up an FTA with the six GCC member states of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman.

In an interview with the Malaysian news agency BERNAMA Abdul Aziz disclosed that a bi-lateral Free Trade Agreement with the UAE is almost ready and both countries are expected to sign the document before the end of 2024. This would mean that this deal would be a major progress towards Malaysia’s efforts to strengthen trade ties with key members of the Gulf Commonwealth.

Previously, Abdul Aziz pointed that the largest economy in the region Saudi Arabia is in charge of negotiating the FTA between Malaysia and the GCC. Making such an agreement is anticipated to strengthen the trade relations and foster new era of cooperation in several fields.

Malaysia at the moment has seven bilateral FTA and nine multilateral FTA with other countries. The proposed FTA with the GCC would be Malaysia’s first with an Arab region qual to the increasing trend on the trade relations with the gulf countries. This agreement is expected to enhance the trade liberalization and investment hence deepening the integration of Malaysia into more vibrant proprietor Arabian Gulf economies.

As the GCC is a significant player in the international trading system, the FTA means that there could be increased economic integration between the two parties so as to fuel the growth of their bilateral relations as well as those of Malaysia and the UAE with the rest of the member countries of the GCC.