President Barack Obama's administration will include Malaysia in trade negotiations aimed at creating a partnership with key nations in the Asia-Pacific region, the top US trade envoy said today.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk notified the Congress of the administration's plan to include Malaysia in the ongoing talks in a letter addressed to the leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

"On behalf of the president, I am pleased to inform the Congress that we intend to include Malaysia in the ongoing negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement," Kirk wrote to Senator Daniel Inouye and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The administration had notified the Congress last December that it would enter TPP negotiations, viewing an agreement as "a means to advance US economic interests with the fastest-growing economies in the world" and as a potential platform for regional economic integration, he recalled.

"Malaysia's inclusion in the TPP negotiations will contribute meaningfully to these goals and further expands the economic significance of a TPP Agreeement," he said.

The US trade representative noted that Malaysia was engaged in extensive domestic economic reform and there were still outstanding issues in negotiations of a bilateral free-trade pact.

Malaysia "has assured us that it is now prepared to conclude a high-standard agreement, including on these issues," he told the Congress.

US-Malaysia trade talks have bogged down in sensitive areas including Malaysia's system of affirmative action for Muslim Malays who dominate the multi-racial population.

Kirk pointed out that Malaysia already is an important US export destination. Goods and services exported to the Southeast Asian nation totaled 10 billion dollars in 2009.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a once-obscure pact revived by Obama as other trade deals languish before the US Congress.

The countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks are Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

Lawmakers from Obama's Democratic Party have been critical of free-trade pacts, fearing that they would hurt US workers, particularly amid a fragile recovery from recession and high unemployment near 10 percent.

The previous Republican administration of George W. Bush completed negotiations with South Korea on a free-trade pact, but the Congress has yet to act on it with Washington seeking more concessions for US automakers.

Congress also has held up bilateral trade agreements with Colombia and Panama.

- AFP