ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: Pakistan and Malaysia on Thursday agreed to have joint ventures in various sectors particularly in textile. The understanding was reached in a meeting of the Trade Minister of Malaysia Ms Dato Seri Rafidah Aziz with Federal Minister for Commerce Humayun Akhtar Khan here Thursday.

An official announcement said that during the meeting both the ministers also shown interest for joint ventures in the processing of fruits and vegetables, information technology, telecom, fisheries, rubber industry and mining sectors.

The Malaysian minister expressed her interest in relocation of textile garment industry to Pakistan. In this connection, she informed that she would lead a delegation of garment manufacturers to Pakistan in March next to explore the investment opportunities.

She also invited similar delegation of businessmen from Pakistan to Malaysia to explore the opportunities of business and joint ventures. The Malaysian side also showed interest in importing lower-end rice from Pakistan.

Pakistan's commerce minister briefed the Malaysian minister about the trade regime of Pakistan and informed her that Pakistan had a very liberal trade regime, which could be a great attraction for the forward thinking companies of the world.

Both the sides agreed on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. It was agreed that both the countries would exchange technical groups to initiate the process of identifying items for tariff reduction.

The commerce minister indicated that he would visit Malaysia in later half of the year. The bilateral economic relations between Pakistan and Malaysia have always been sound but the balance of trade has remained in favour of Malaysia due to export of palm oil, rubber and timber to Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the leading buyers of the above products.