27/12/2011 (MSN) - Healthcare, education and biotech sectors will benefit immensely under a landmark agreement signed by India and Malaysia this year, the chief of a ''Corporate India'' grouping here said today, calling for creating more awareness to seize the lucrative trade opportunities arising from the pact.

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperative Agreement (CECA, which was signed in February this year and came into effect from July one, is a much more comprehensive pact compared to a routine Free Trade Agreement, said Umang Sharma, the president of the Consortium of Indian Industries in Malaysia (CIIM).

CIIM is an umbrella grouping of CEO''s of companies operating in Malaysia, with investments from India,.

"There will be ample opportunities in the SME and Services sector and the Malaysian infrastructure companies too will have a chance to get a share in the booming India pie worth one trillion US dollar investment that India is seeking in the next 5 years in infrastructure sector alone," Sharma told PTI.

"However, implementation of the policies in the CECA agreement at the operating level people is of utmost importance. If people down the line are not aware of the new policies or changes, the business community and the trade suffers.

"Dissemination of the Information about the trade pact was vital not only for entrepreneurs in India and Malaysia but also for the operation level people in the government," Sharma said, adding that more workshops and seminars should be conducted for the business communities.

"The real effect on trade and investments will come actually over a period of time, as much needs to be done to create the awareness of the same."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak had suggested a USD 15 billion bilateral trade target to be achieved by 2015.

"Given the increase in business activity, with trade already registering about 35 per cent growth in the first nine months this year, (corresponding to the same period last year) the business community is very confident of achieving this target, perhaps much earlier than 2015," Sharma said.

Asked why the bilateral trade was tilted towards Malaysia, Sharma said that until a few years ago, Malaysia''s main exports to India was Palm oil. But with the growth of India''s infrastructure sector, Malaysian companies, known world over for their expertise in this field, have begun investing and participating in the infrastructure growth of India.

With the implementation of CECA, more Indian companies are expected to invest in Malaysia and use it as a springboard to tap the growing ASEAN market.

He, however, felt that Malaysia needed to improve its pool of skilled and semi-skilled manpower to make it more attractive for investors to come into Malaysia.

"It was the vision of the two Prime Ministers of India and Malaysia to bring the two countries closer to each other and with this in mind, the CECA was negotiated in a record period of nine months," he added.