KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- The U.S. is optimistic the current free trade agreement (FTA) talks with Malaysia will be concluded by the end of March following positive progress of the negotiations.

U.S. Deputy Trade Representative, Karan Bhatia, said the negotiations had made good progress in many areas.

"Of the 23 chapters in the FTA, a number of them were near conclusion except for two particularly sensitive areas -- procurement and services," he told reporters, here Wednesday.

Bhatia is here on a three-day visit from Monday ahead of the fifth round of Malaysia-US FTA negotiations in Kota Kinabalu next Monday.

His visit was a follow-up to the meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz in Davos, Switzerland last week.

"My message here this week is to urge the Malaysian government and negotiators and our own negotiators to do everything we can to break the differences," he said.

Bhatia remained optimistic the talks could be concluded when the fifth round of negotiations starts next week.

"There is a window of opportunity, by which we could try to make it happened. The fifth round is the key to this we need to close the chapters of the FTA," he said.

Bhatiar said services, important for both Malaysia and the U.S. must be open and there must be competition.

He said there were worries the U.S. demand in the areas of government tenders and procurements could hurt Malaysia's social policies, especially in regard to Bumiputra rights.

"The U.S. has no intention of undermining Malaysia's preferential policies but will call for greater transparency in the two areas," he said.

Bahtia said Malaysia would be able to compete on a level playing field with a guaranteed right to compete with U.S. firms in the U.S. market.

"Through the FTA, the U.S. will also open the U.S. government procurement market, worth roughly $300 billion ($1=RM3.47) a year to Malaysian firms," he said.