ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is considering to buy milk andother dairy products from Pakistan as a means to narrow the bilateraltrade imbalance now hugely in its favour, Prime Minister Datuk Seri DrMahathir Mohamad said here Friday.But it would be up to Malaysian consumers to decide if they would switchto Pakistani milk and such products which Malaysia now largely sourcedfrom New Zealand and Australia, he told leading Pakistani businessmen at adialogue at the Serena Hotel here where the prime minister is stayingduring his two-day visit starting Friday.

Dr Mahathir said although Malaysia had a population of 24 million people,its consumption of food products was more than many countries with a muchlarger population and the country was importing goods from practically allover the world.

"You have to compete in our market to see if our consumers like the tasteof your milk products because we can't force them to buy anything theydon't like as our market is a very free one," he said.

During the dialogue, several Pakistani businessmen impressed on the primeminister a wide range of products that Malaysia could import to addressthe trade imbalance now in Malaysia's favour by a ratio of 9:1.

A businessman said Pakistan produced 26 billion litres of milk annuallyfrom eight million cows and 40 million buffaloes and its milk was thesecond cheapest in the world after New Zealand.

The prime minister asked Pakistani businessmen to send more trade missionsto Malaysia to introduce their products to Malaysian consumers.

He also said Pakistan could look into planting oil palm to reduce itsimports of palm oil which now was the country's largest import item fromMalaysia.

"We took rubber seeds from Brazil and palm oil clones from West Africa butnow we produce better clones than them and that is why we are not quitewelcome in these countries and we are the world'd largest exporter of palmoil," he said.

He also said a key to Malaysia's sucess as a trading nation was itsconsistent policy and political stability that enabled the country to havetrade as a larger component of its gross domestic product (GDP) than evenJapan and the United States.

He said some 82 per cent of Malaysia's exports were manufactured goods andwith only 18 per cent being primary commodities.

Dr Mahathir later inaugurated the RM1.8 billion Liberty power plant, afully-owned independent power producer by Malaysia's Tenaga Nasional Bhd.-- BERNAMA