India-Malaysia trade pact to be ready by September

KUALA LUMPUR: India and Malaysia today said the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between the two countries is expected to be ready by September, in time for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here in November this year.

Indian Trade and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and his Malaysian counterpart Mohammad Mustapha met for a bilateral meeting and discussed the CECA, with both noting that though a few issues remained on the table, it would be done by September.

However, sources who did not want to be named said though the issues on table were not unsurmountable, time was needed to resolve them.

Later, Sharma told a press conference that despite last year's economic downturn, India was hopeful of achieving 15 per cent growth in its exports.

"Yes, we will achieve our target, the world lives on hope and we are very much focused on our target for doubling our share by 2015," he added.