The bilateral trade between Malaysia and India has increased by 11 percent in the first five months this year, giving hope that the annual figure will be better than last year.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said here on Thursday at the Malaysia-India Business Seminar that the bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to 7.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, 29 percent lower than the 10.5 billion U.S. dollars registered in 2008.

However, he said that with the implementation of the ASEAN- India Trade in Goods Agreement, it was possible that the trade performance could be resumed to the 2008 level.

According to Najib, India is Malaysia's 12th largest trading partner and 11th largest major exports destination.

He also said that Malaysia is currently the 13th largest exports destination of India.