20100414 0939 Malaysian Economic News.

PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and US President Barack Obama met on 13 Apr for the first-ever bilateral talks, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit. The two leaders opened on a light-hearted footing before they went deeper into a wide range of issues from commerce to nuclear non-proliferation, Acting Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said.

• Najib gave his undertaking that Malaysia would participate actively in the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiated by the Obama administration to push for economic integration in the Asia-Pacific which accounts for 40% of world trade. 
• Najib also pledged Malaysia's readiness to assist in medical and reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan and Obama proposed that the matter be further discussed during a meeting between the him and US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke on 15 Apr. (Bernama)

The Defence Ministry will review the salaries and emoluments of armed forces personnel, its deputy minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat. He said that although the armed forces were the most senior force in the country, their salaries were still low compared to other services. (Bernama)

The foreign workers laboratory has proposed that 1.8m foreign workers in the country be reduced to 1.5m in three years. Those foreign workers are mainly placed in manufacturing (39%), construction (19%), plantation (14%), housemaid (12%), services (10%) with the rest in agriculture (6%). The contributing countries are Indonesia (50.9%), Bangladesh (17.4%), Nepal (9.7%), Myanmar (7.8%), India (6.3%), and the rest from Vietnam (7.9%). (Bernama)

The government has set RM750 as the minimum wage for Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia (Rela) members who worked as part-time security guards. Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusof said the minimum wage limit was set for Rela members based on their training, discipline and ability to handle weapons.

• It is also an effort to attract locals to the sector (security) and reduce the over dependence on foreign labour, especially workers from Nepal. (Bernama)

The government paid a unit of public relations consultants Apco Worldwide a hefty RM77m for its services from 15 Jul 09 to 4 Jun 10, the Dewan Rakyat was told. Minister in the PM’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the payments to the unit were made for two categories of services – public affairs (RM4.14m from 15 Jul 09 to 15 Jul 10) and government affairs services, and strategic communications (RM75m from 3 Jun 09 to 4 Jun 10), public relations and press outreach. (Financial Daily)

The government is keen to pursue a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to further enhance business ties with the region, says Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. The FTA would have a significant impact in expanding bilateral trade and investment between Malaysia and the Gulf region. Bilateral trade between Malaysia and UAE grew more than three folds over the past decade from US$1.16bn in 2000 to US$4.59bn in 2009, he said. (Bernama)

Malaysia has great potential to emerge as the global hub for halal cosmetics and toiletries, said International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir. He said the products could be manufactured for the export market since Malaysia was very rich in unique herbs and awareness about the Malaysian Halal Standard, which is considered a premium on the global scale. The global cosmetics market is worth US$334bn and the global halal cosmetics market, estimated at US$13bn. (Bernama)