MITI is very disappointed with me; well the feeling is mutual. Here is the "He said - She said". "She" being Rebecca Sta Maria, Director General of MITI; unless MITI wants to refute this too. This is the media releases of mine vs. MITI. Note that my second immediate Press Release clarifies that the "trade negotiators" I met were in fact "representatives" and "officials" of the EU and US Embassy, and that EU in fact did not offer an opinion on the UNDP Report but the US officials did. PRESS STATEMENT: 3rd July 2013 - WONG CHEN, KELANA JAYA P.104 • Together with YB Nurul Izzah, YB Charles Santiago and Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad, we were invited to meet MITI on 14th June 2013. • In the said meeting, MITI informed us that the government had engaged UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in 2010 as a consultant to prepare a cost benefit analysis paper on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). • MITI informed us that the report was very comprehensive and that UNDP had engaged most if not all, trade and commerce associations and NGOs on the matter. This UNDP report was completed and then presented to the Cabinet. This report remains the definitive and authoritative cost benefit analysis paper on TPPA. MITI said that they did not prepare an alternative cost benefit paper. • In the meeting, I asked MITI to give me a straight answer on whether the UNDP paper recommended the signing of the TPPA? The reply from MITI was elusive and non-committal. MITI said that the UNDP paper recommended several scenarios; not to sign the TPPA, to sign the TPPA, not to sign TPPA but sign FTA with EU, and not to sign both the TPPA and EU FTA. In short, MITI did not offer a definitive answer. • In the meeting MITI also informed us that SUHAKAM was given the opportunity to sight the report. Upon our request to sight the same as Members of Parliament, MITI agreed to release parts of the UNDP paper for us to review on the 28th of June 2013. • Last week, the MITI Minister Mustapha Mohamad informed Parliament that the UNDP report will not be shared, effectively saying that the report is somehow a state secret. My understanding of the matter is the negotiating texts of the TPPA are subject to secrecy, not the UNDP report itself, which is a cost benefit study. • I have had the opportunity to discuss the TTPA with trade negotiators who are well versed in this matter. These negotiators include officers from both the European Union and also the US. The trade experts tell me that the UNDP report in fact recommends Malaysia NOT to sign the TPPA. If what the EU and US negotiators tell me is true, then why is the Cabinet still pursuing the TPPA? • There is a fundamental issue at stake; the TPPA is not just a trade agreement, it is an attempt to impose an economic model that will mirror that of the US; in compliance with American ideas of how an economy should be organized. If we adopt this model wholesale, we will expose ourselves to great economic shifts. Is this what we want to achieve in a so called “trade agreement”? • KEADILAN urges MITI to release the UNDP report and MITI to be transparent and to answer this basic question: in the final analysis, does the UNDP report recommend or reject the signing of the TPPA? Wong Chen P.104 Kelana Jaya Chairman of Investment and Trade Bureau PKR Press Release: WONG CHEN P.104 KELANA JAYA (For immediate release) In my press statement this morning on the TPPA, I said the following: “I have had the opportunity to discuss the TPPA with trade negotiators who are well verse in this matter. These negotiators include officers from both the European Union and the U.S. The trade experts tell me that the UNDP report in fact recommends Malaysia NOT to sign the TPPA.” I wish to retract the above and unreservedly apologise to the European Union and the US Embassy for the following two mistakes I made regarding the above statement. 1. In doing my research on the TPPA., I met up with "EU representatives" and "US Embassy officials"; these representatives and officials whilst well versed on the matter of the TPPA, are strictly not "trade negotiators". 2. From the said meetings, only the US Embassy officials informed me that they had heard from sources, that the UNDP report was negative towards the TPPA. The EU representatives offered no opinion on the UNDP report. I stand firm on my main complaint against MITI for reneging on their promise to produce the UNDP report to the Pakatan Rakyat MPs and moving forward, I shall continue to demand that MITI be more transparent on the TPPA. Wong Chen 3rd July 2013 Here is the MITI Media Release in response: Media Release : Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) - specifically allegations regarding a study by the UNDP 04 Jul 2013 08:55 AM The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Malaysia is concerned with certain inaccurate information being circulated by irresponsible quarters regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), specifically allegations regarding a study by the UNDP which in turn, is said to contain recommendations for Malaysia not to sign onto the TPPA. MITI would like to categorically state that none of these allegations are true. MITI would also stress that these allegations grossly misrepresent the Malaysian Government’s position with regard to our trade agenda. The study by UNDP lists key advantages and challenges for Malaysia vis-à-vis the TPPA. Among other things, the study also contains key recommendations regarding Malaysia’s negotiating positions across all areas being negotiated in the TPPA, hence the reason why MITI is not able to release this document yet. MITI would also reiterate that the Ministry is committed to safeguarding Malaysia’s economic and trade interests vigorously across all our international engagements, including the TPPA. Ministry of International Trade and Industry 3 July 2013
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 00:25:20 +0000
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