Malaysia state fund, Petronas mostly "exempted" from TPP - minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Malaysian state fund
Khazanah Nasional and state energy firm Petronas will be largely
exempted from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) regulations, as
Malaysia is ready to allow some exceptions, the trade minister
said on Wednesday.
Malaysia was one of 12 nations that finalised the trade pact
with the United States. The TPP aims to liberalise commerce
across nations accounting for 40 percent of the world's economy
but still needs ratification by each country.
It was not immediately clear how Khazanah and Petronas would
be exempted, or what exceptions might be made, with discussions
to be held with company boards in coming days. Parliament will
debate the TPP after it reconvenes on Oct 19.
Malaysia had earlier expressed concerns that TPP would
undermine its right to manage state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and
policies of preferential treatment for ethnic Malays and other
indigenous people, known as bumiputra.
Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia had decided to
revise its initial request for an absolute carve-out of Khazanah
and Petronas from the deal and had sought a compromise.
"Whatever we discuss has to be in line with our
socio-economic model, including the roles of state-owned
enterprises," Mustapa told reporters.
Khazanah and Petronas would now be subject to certain TPP
disciplines, although the details had yet to be determined, he
said. He did not elaborate.
Petronas, the country's oil and gas producer, has rights
over reserves under federal law. The company contributed a 29
billion ringgit ($6.88 billion) dividend to the government's
revenue in 2014.
Khazanah has a programme aimed at transforming state-linked
firms to develop, among other things, human capital and the
bumiputra community.
($1 = 4.2 ringgit)