He said with Malaysia’s strong fundamentals and economic diversification, the country is in a better position to face any uncertainty. However, he said there might be some impact in the near term. "As far as trade is concerned, Brexit is unlikely to have significant disruption on Malaysia’s external sector. In 2015, Malaysia’s trade with the United Kingdom (UK) stood at RM16.5 billion or 1.1 per cent of our total trade,” he said. Mustapa said Malaysia’s total trade with the UK registered a 9.4 per cent growth in ringgit terms to RM16.45 in 2015 from RM15.02 billion in 2014. "Total exports amounted to RM9.32 billion, an increase of 17.6 per cent, compared to RM7.92 billion in 2014. Total imports increased slightly by 0.3 per cent to RM7.13 billion in 2015 compared to RM7.10 billion in 2014,” he said. In 2015, the UK was Malaysia’s third largest trading partner in the EU and fourth largest source of investment.  As of 2015, a total of 433 manufacturing projects with UK participation had been implemented, valued at RM6.8 billion in terms of investment. As for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), he said Brexit would have minimal impact as they are normally long-term in nature and exchange rate volatility was usually priced into the FDI-related contracts. "We believe that the UK will continue to be a key player through its investments in Malaysia’s services sector especially in banking and education, among others,” he said.   Mustapa said the UK may no longer be part of the currently negotiated Malaysia-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) but the possibility of having a separate bilateral FTA with the country would be explored. "The decades of close cooperation between Malaysia and the UK transcend beyond economic partnership. "They form a strong foundation for our future growth and Brexit will not affect our close ties. We will continue to build upon this momentum and forge ahead,” he added. — Bernama