Malaysia is firmly entrenched in the regional and multilateral trading environment and fully committed to fair and liberal trade. Together with other countries, it is working to strengthen and expand regional and international trade through various frameworks such as AFTA and APEC. It has consistently supported fair and equitable initiatives in the WTO to strengthen the global trading system.

Trade liberalisation measures have been put in place to promote and sustain economic growth. This has led to strong trading relationships with more than 150 countries around the world.

The principles embodied in Malaysia's trade policy objectives are:

• To undertake liberalisation measures through regular reviews of the trade regime;
• To maintain and expand Malaysia's trade with major trading partners;
• To diversify and expand trade in new and emerging markets;
• To promote and develop exports of manufactured and value added resource-based products;
• To seek improved and favourable market access for Malaysia's exports of processed commodities and manufactured products;
• To promote and develop exports of Malaysia's services; and
• To strengthen and expand intra-ASEAN trade through closer economic and trade co-operation.