(AFP) Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today toured the world's tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Towers, on the third day of his visit here and got a sales pitch from the owners.

Vajpayee, who arrived Sunday along with 75 corporate leaders, was escorted to the 83rd floor of the 452-metre towers by Ishak Imam Abas, an executive of the Malaysian state energy firm Petronas.

There were no formal talks but Ishak, senior vice-president for finance, said he took the opportunity to stress a keen interest in the Indian market.

Ishak told AFP Petronas is working with the Indian Oil Corporation on several projects.

It has a 50 percent stake in a RM224 million liquefied petroleum gas terminal at Haldia which is expected to be operational in August.

Petronas was also considering two other projects with India's state oil firm, a refinery and the privatisation of the Indo-Burma Petroleum Company.

"The oil industry is big business in India," Ishak said, adding that Petronas was eager to invest in refining, marketing and other downstream activities.

"India has been welcoming us and we have been fairly active in India," he said, adding that Vajpayee said he welcomed Petronas's involvement.

Balanced trade

Vajpayee's first visit to Malaysia as prime minister is strongly business-oriented, with India viewing Malaysia as a trade gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia.

Yesterday the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on India becoming lead contractor in a railway project in northern Malaysia worth between RM4.1 million and RM4.8 million.

The Malaysian government hopes to pay for the five-year project through annual Indian imports of up to 1.6 million tonnes of its palmoil.

Four other MOUs on joint cooperation were also signed yesterday.

Apart from business deals, Malaysia wants India to cut its high tariffs on palmoil while India is keen for more balanced trade.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, hosting a dinner for Vajpayee yesterday, urged him to roll back a "tremendous increase" in palmoil tariffs.

Tariff review

Mahathir said the two countries should be prepared to face a certain level of competition without being subservient to the politics of protectionism.

He noted domestic resistance to trade liberalisation.

"Indeed, this has already been manifested through the difficulties encountered in the export of Malaysian palmoil to India."

"It is not only being resisted by coconut oil producers and anti-palmoil campaigns, but also the tremendous increase in tariffs levied on palmoil as compared to other edible oils," Bernama news agency quoted Mahathir as saying.

Vajpayee promised to review the tariff level.

Malaysia is the world's largest palmoil producer and India is its leading market.

It wants India to cut its effective duty level of around 92 percent on imports of palmoil olein to the level imposed on soyabean oil, around 51 percent.

Software and hardware

India, in return, urges Malaysia to narrow its trade surplus. India last year exported goods to Malaysia worth RM1.3 billion and imported products, mainly palmoil, worth RM6.4 billion.

Vaypayee told his host the two countries should tap their full potential in infrastructure development and knowledge-based techologies.

Malaysia could build more highways in India while India could build more railways in Malaysia.

Vajpayee said both countries should try to maximise the synergy between India's software proficiency and Malaysia's impressive manufacturing strength in hardware.