By Manik Mehta
FRANKFURT, Germany (NNN-BERNAMA) — A string of upcoming high-profiled activities aimed at promoting investments and trade with Malaysia are slated to be held in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands
The Frankfurt office of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) is involved in these activities.
In an interview with Bernama in his Frankfurt office, MIDA’s director, Yusri Hasnan Chu, said that the activities are part of promotional work to attract investments and business from these countries.
“We are expecting a special project mission (SPM) organized by the MIDA head office in mid-April. It will be a product-specific mission dealing with machinery and engineering products. This delegation will visit Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Stuttgart. The delegation will meet potential investing companies,” Yusri explained.
Specialized machinery and equipment, particularly robotics and automation, are one of the areas in which the Malaysian Government is trying to encourage companies in industrialized countries, with their advanced level of technology backed by R & D, to invest in Malaysia which already has a well-developed infrastructure to support the operations of foreign industrial companies.
A much-awaited path-breaking event, the 2019 ASEAN Trade and Investment Forum (ATIF) will take place in Brussels on April 4. The event will be held under the theme “Forging Partnership for Economic Sustainability”.
The ASEAN Brussels Committee, comprising embassies of the ASEAN member countries accredited in Belgium and the European Union, wants to attract top industry players from various sectors in Belgium as well as Europe for a first-ever forum highlighting the key benefits and opportunities in ASEAN member states.
ASEAN trade and investment representatives, together with investors, will highlight their experiences in doing business in ASEAN, and present the latest developments in ASEAN’s work towards furthering economic integration, as well as updating the gathering of businesspeople and officials from the EU on the opportunities and benefits of each ASEAN member state.
This event is being supported by da’s Willebroek, the Business Executive Service Company, the EU-ASEAN Business Council, Flanders Investment and Trade, Wallonia Export Investment Agency, Voka Flander’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Belfius Bank, PlayBiz, etc.
Dato’ Hasnudin Hamzah, Malaysia’s ambassador to Belgium and Luxemburg and also as head of the Malaysian mission to the EU, will open the event with his welcoming remarks addressed to the guests in his capacity as chairman of the ASEAN Brussels Committee.
Peter Berz, the head of the unit South and Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, at the directorate-general of the European Commission, is expected to deliver the keynote address on “The significance of the EU-ASEAN Trade Relations”.
Eddy Bevers, the mayor of Willbroek, who will be the guest of honour, will speak on “Building Partnerships in ASEAN’s Growth Network”.
Julia Tijaja, director of ASEAN Integration Monitoring Directorate at the Jakarta-based ASEAN Secretariat, will make a presentation of the ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN in the global context.
A much-anticipated item at the event is the so-called “ambassador powertalk” on the theme of ASEAN as a global destination. The talk, to be moderated by Axel Goethals, the chief executive of the European Institute for Asian Studies, will include panelists representing the ten ASEAN missions in Brussels.
Yusri Hasnan Chu, the MIDA director in Frankfurt, will highlight the opportunities for Belgian and European enterprises in Malaysia. Representatives of other ASEAN trade and investment promotion agencies will present opportunities in their respective countries for European businesses.
Another ASEAN Business Forum, expected to take place in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24, will highlight ASEAN’s ties with the Netherlands.
The Thai Embassy in The Hague, is coordinating with the Malaysian Embassy in the Dutch capital, and has been making arrangements for the forum.
Sources in The Hague told Bernama that the broad theme of the event will be “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”, though the ensuing panel discussions will be sub-divided into specialized themes of interest to both the ASEAN member states and the host Netherlands.
Some of the themes that will figure are logistics, innovation, water management, circular economy, bio-chemicals, agriculture and food innovation.
–NNN-BERNAMA