The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) said today that bilateral free trade talks between Malaysia and US will not halt despite the expiry of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) under President George W Bush's administration.

Answering questions in Parliament, Miti Deputy Minister Ng Lip Yong (BN-Batu) said both sides are adamant in concluding the talks.

"Expiry of the TPA does not mean that FTA talks will stop. Miti believes that any decision made on the FTA will be based on the interest of the nation and is in no way influenced by the time-frame of the TPA and the development of American domestic politics," he said.

TPA is a provision given by the American Congress to a particular presidential administration to conduct bilateral or multilateral FTA negotiations to fast track trade deals between countries.

The Bush administration's TPA ended in March this year.

Zero tolerance

As for the accusations surrounding the talks, Ng said: "The government stands firmly by our principle of zero tolerance towards certain issues we find non-negotiable including policies and laws pertaining to the national mission and the sovereignty of our nation."

He explained further that the FTA talks "will not miss out any details" and to ensure this, the task has been delegated to 19 negotiation groups.

Ng also said that no certain effects of the FTA towards investments can be ascertained at the moment as talks are currently ongoing.

"The government has decided that unofficial negotiations will commence through video-conferencing and emails to clarify on technical issues," he said

He added that the potential for investments depends on the level of liberalisation commitment shown and exercised by both countries.

"FTA will increase Malaysia's appeal as an investment hub for US and foreign investors," noted the deputy minister.

The FTA talks has faced persistent protests from civil society groups and workers throughout the country who claim that the agreement could jeopardise the latter's rights and welfare.