Mustapa reiterates that Malaysia's economy will not be 'colonised' under TPPA

Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed has reiterated that Malaysia's economy would not be "colonised" by other countries under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

He said no one country could do so in this regard as the trade deal involves 12 different countries.

"We must understand that Malaysia too has its own strengths and we will not surrender the economy completely. We also have a number of companies such as Petronas and Khazanah Nasional operating overseas.

"Just as we want our companies to be looked after when operating overseas, other countries too wish the same for theirs in Malaysia," he added.

Mustapa told reporters this after presenting appointment letters to 470 religious teachers at the SMK Berangan here today.

He said Malaysia's participation in the TPPA would not just bring major benefits to the country's economy, but also in other areas such as strengthening small and medium enterprises.

The Dewan Rakyat in a two-day special sitting earlier this week passed a motion to approve Malaysia's participation in the world's largest trade pact.

It was then passed by the Dewan Negara and Malaysia is expected to sign the trade deal on Feb 4 in New Zealand.

Other than Malaysia, the other 11 countries in the TPPA are Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Peru, Chile and Mexico.