Updated on: Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Malaysia said it is strengthening ties with several developing nations which have the potential to emerge as economic giants in the near future, as it described India as one of the future powerhouse.
"Among the countries that have strong potential include India, China and Indonesia as these countries have large domestic markets," Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said in Ipoh town.
He said the United States and Japan are yet to fully recover from the global recession of 2009 and 2010.
"The recovery is sluggish and taking a long time. In Europe, only Germany has come out of the recession as it is the centre of engineering excellence," said Ahmad Husni.
He said Malaysia and India would sign a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement which was beyond the scope of the free trade agreement (FTA).
The Minister said Malaysia had the opportunity to do so as it was the largest investor and contractor in India's building infrastructure industry.
"I am confident they (Indian authorities) will continue to place their faith in us to carry out construction work in future judging from the projects that we have carried out there in the past," he added.
Ahmad Husni also said this was part of the government's initiative to increase trade and investment to ensure continued economic growth for the country