Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
"Hopefully at that point, we’ll be able to hammer out a way forward," U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Kathryn Taylor told The Associated Press.
<P>Taylor said the meeting would be the first face-to-face
contact since the Malaysian Cabinet discussed the proposed agreement in March,
just before both sides agreed that it could not be completed in time because of
differences.</P><P>U.S. President George W. Bush’s special authority to "fast
track" the deal by submitting it to Congress for a straight yes-or-no vote
without amendments expires on July 1. But to meet various legal requirements,
the propsed agreement needed to be concluded 90 days beforehand, or by the start
of April.</P><P>In Seoul on Monday, the U.S. and South Korea announced they had
wrapped up a free trade agreement just before the deadline. That deal needs to
be approved by both countries’ legislatures.</P><P>While Malaysia and the U.S.
missed the deadline, both sides have said they will continue talking. Taylor said
a new timeline for the deal has not yet been set.</P><P>"We already have
a very strong and vibrant trade relationship," Taylor said. "But we
are thinking we may have missed an opportunity."</P><P>She also was unable
to say what issues the negotiators would address during their next meeting in
mid-April in Washington.</P><P>An official of the Malaysian Ministry of International
Trade and Industry declined to comment on the next meeting.</P><P>Officials say
the two-way trade between Malaysia and the United States would have doubled by
2010 from US$44 billion (€33.8 billion) in 2005 had a free trade pact been
signed.</P><P>The two countries are looking at 18 areas in the talks, including
industrial goods, customs procedures, intellectual property rights, agriculture,
financial services and telecommunications.</P><P>The key obstacle to the talks
is Malaysia’s affirmative action program that awards government tenders to Malay-owned
companies to give them an advantage in competing with the wealthier Chinese minority.
While some government contracts are open to bids from foreign companies, Washington
wants more clarity and transparency in the bidding process.</P><P>Other sticking
points in the negotiations are differences over liberalizing Malaysia’s services
sector and highly protected car industry, its ban on majority foreign ownership
of banks, its poor protection of intellectual property rights, and labor and environmental
issues.</P><P>Malaysian rights activists have also opposed the trade agreement,
saying it would put local farmers out of work, lead to job losses, erode workers’
rights and end the availability of cheap generic drugs for those with AIDS and
other diseases.</P><P><I>Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/02/business/AS-FIN-Malaysia-US-Free-Trade.php</I>
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