European Commission | July 2025

Report of the 1st round of negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Malaysia

The 1st round of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU
and Malaysia took place between 30 June and 4 July 2025 in Brussels.

This first round focused on clarifying each side’s positions, with text-based
discussions aiming at identifying areas of convergence and divergence. The
discussions were marked by constructive and genuine engagement by both
sides. The extensive stocktaking exercise, which was concluded ahead of the
announcement of the resumption of negotiations in January, served as a basis
for a common understanding of each side’s approach. Discussions were held in
21 negotiating groups on a wide range of areas to be covered by the agreement.

The topics that were covered during the 1st round of negotiations include
Transparency, Sustainable Food Systems, Trade Remedies, Services and
Investment, Competition and Subsidies, Customs and Trade Facilitation, Trade
in Goods (including Energy and an Anti-fraud clause), Digital Trade, Intellectual
Property Rights, Geographical Indications, Technical Barriers to Trade, Rules of
Origin, Raw Materials, Government Procurement, Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises, Good Regulatory Practices, State-owned Enterprises, Sanitary and
Phyto-Sanitary measures, Sustainable Food Systems, Trade and Sustainable
Development, Mutual Administrative Assistance in customs matters, Dispute
Settlement and Exceptions.

The EU had tabled text proposals for all chapters ahead of the round, and the
negotiating groups engaged in discussions on this basis. The text proposals will
be available on the European Commission’s dedicated webpage for the EU-
Malaysia FTA Documents - European Commission).

Good progress has already been made with substantial preliminary agreement
on text in some chapters, including on Dispute Settlement and Exceptions, Rules
of Origin, Antitrust and Mergers, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Mutual
Administrative Assistance.

The 2nd round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in Malaysia in November
2025.