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Ambassadors To Mount Trade And Investment Missions, Says Rafidah

By Mikhail Raj Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) - From this year onwards, Malaysian ambassadors all over the world will mount trade and investment missions to complement efforts by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to lure foreign investments and expand the nation's trade.

Its Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said this would begin especially in countries "where we are not likely to mount trade and investment missions because the trade volume is small or we do not have the capacity to travel for any one year".

"The ambassadors can explain what trade and investment in Malaysia is all about and my officers will be there to back up and answer questions," she told Bernama recently in Birmingham, England, on the outcome of the trade and investment mission to Milan in Italy, Hamburg in Germany and Birmingham from Feb 27 to March 7.

Rafidah, who led the mission to the three cities, said it was difficult for her and her deputies to travel to all destinations to mount such missions, which was why the ambassadors' efforts would complement what the ministry was doing.

Foreign investments and expanded trade are crucial in raising national revenue and accelerating Malaysia's industrialisation drive and provide employment opportunities to the thousands of graduates passing out from local and foreign universities each year.

Usually, a typical trade and investment mission would start off with Rafidah officiating a trade and investment seminar during which she would provide a comprehensive backdrop on Malaysia and its trade and investment opportunities in wide-ranging areas.

This would be followed by presentations by foreign companies in Malaysia, as was the case in the mission in Europe, where Italian rubber products maker Alfagomma Mardec, BASF AG and Dyson Ltd delivered powerful testimonies on their success in having Malaysia as their investment base.

Rafidah would again take the stand during a lengthy question-and-answer session where issues, not only pertaining to trade and investment, are raised.

Later, matchmaking sessions are held between the foreign participants and private sector representatives as well as officials from the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) and state government agencies.

Rafidah said that as for the ambassadors, "they would conduct their own mini-seminars and we would send advance parties from Mida and Matrade to prepare speeches and brochures to help mount a small round table session for 40 to 50 people".

During the mission to Europe which she described as a success, the minister noted a heightened sense of interest of doing business in Malaysia, judging from the business-like questions rather than unrelated or innocuous questions that the media would ask. Some 700 participants attended the seminars in the three cities.

The issues raised ranged from cost of doing business in Malaysia, opportunities in environmental protection services, energy-saving programmes, aerospace, defence, quarrying, commercialisation of textiles and clothing industry, registration of cosmetics products in Malaysia and incentives to foreign investors.

Others included implications on companies outside the free trade agreements which Malaysia was forging with several countries, opportunities in small and medium enterprises, investments in the refining and petroleum sector and policy on foreign equity.

No less important were issues pertaining to opportunities for financial service providers, implication of Asean's liberalisation on the services sector, transfer of technology in oil and gas, "Malaysia My Second Home Programme" and the status of the just held East Asia Summit.

During the mission to Europe, officers from the ministry, Mida, Matrade and state agencies and private sector representatives discussed with foreign participants trade and investment opportunities during intense matchmaking sessions.

Mida, led by its director-general Datuk R. Karunakaran and director for the foreign investment promotion division Afifuddin Abdul Kadir, and Matrade by its chief executive officer, Datuk Merlyn Kasimir, held 387 business meetings with foreign participants.

Potential sales of almost RM13.6 million were clinched at the matchmaking sessions relating to the edu-tourism sectors, printing services, books and e-learning software, closed-circuit television (CCTV) and fire alarm security systems, canvas and cotton cloth, lithographic printing, ink and transformers.

Rafidah is scheduled to lead the next trade and investment mission to Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia later this month.

-- BERNAMA