MALAYSIA WELCOMES ACCORD ON NEW RUBBER PACT Malaysian Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik welcomed the basic accord reached over the weekend in Geneva between producers and consumers on a new International Natural Rubber Agreement (INRA). "This is a good development and if a new pact is adopted this week it will augur well for the rubber industry and prices in the long term," he told Reuters here. Negotiators at a United Nations conference on a new INRA resolved differences and agreed last Saturday on basic elements for a new pact to replace the current one, which expires in October. Conference Chairman Manaspas Xuto said legal drafting of the new pact will begin this week and it is expected to be formally adopted by some 40 countries on March 20. Malaysia, the world's top producer, acted as spokesman for producers at the talks, which began on March 9. Malaysian traders said they expected prices to firm by a few cents on the news that a pact is expected to be adopted. Prices will also firm in the short term because some 370,000 tonnes of rubber held in INRA buffer stock will not be liquidated with a new pact in sight, they said.