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The US and Malaysia this week started their fourth round of talks
in San Francisco for a free trade agreement (FTA), but Rafidah said rice was had
been excluded from the negotiations, the Bernama news agency reported.
<P>She also said Malaysia last year only imported 346.8 metric tonnes of rice worth RM1.32 million from the US.</P>
<P>"The amount was less than 0.1 percent of Malaysia’s overall rice import in 2006," Rafidah was quoted as saying from the Philippines, where she is attending a Southeast Asian regional summit.</P>
<P>Malaysian farmers, activists and opposition groups have called for a halt to the negotiations, arguing the deal lacks transparency and that imports of cheap US produce could hurt farmers, especially those growing rice.</P>
<P>Rice farmers have launched a campaign to collect signatures against the FTA, which Washington is aiming to complete before US President George W Bush’s trade-negotiating authority expires in June. – AFP</P>
<P><I>Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/62006</I>
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