The Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, YB Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir led a Trade and Investment Mission to Tokyo and Osaka, Japan from 17-21 July 2011. He was accompanied by a 48-member delegation from the various State Governments and private sector representatives. The Mission was a follow-up to the working visit to Osaka by YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry on 29 June 2011. The mission highlighted Malaysia’s support in Japan’s rebuilding efforts following the March 11 natural calamities. In Tokyo, the Deputy Minister had two sessions of Round Table Meetings with captains of industries, Japanese importers as well as trade associations. The Deputy Minister also met with eight Japanese companies to discuss ways in which Malaysian companies can participate in Japan’s rebuilding efforts. At a seminar in Osaka which was attended by 270 Japanese participants mainly from the E&E, automotive and trading industries the...

 

LANDING in Balikpapan after a 2-hour direct AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur makes you realise how close you are to some of Indonesia’s most bustling cities. My trip to Balikpapan was sparked off by a meeting I had some four months earlier with the city’s personable mayor, Bapak Rizal Effendi in Jakarta at a lunch for editors from Indonesia’s largest newspaper group, Jawa Pos. He convinced me that it is important to promote Malaysia in cities outside Jakarta. At the time I promised him that I’d visit his city the premier commercial hub in the booming natural resource province of East Kalimantan within the next four months. It wasn’t easy to arrange but with the Asean Economic Ministers’ Meeting set for Manado, I was able to pack in a quick trip to Pak Rizal’s home city. With a population of just over 600,000, Balikpapan is a thoroughly business-focused city framed by the Makassar Straits on one side and countless rolling hills on the other. There is an...

Persidangan CEO Forbes Global 2011 telah berlangsung pada 12 – 14 September 2011 di Shangrila Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Persidangan tiga hari itu dianjurkan dengan usahasama kerajaan Malaysia, Julius Baer, EMR Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services, Corporate Executive Board, ADS Securities , Steinway Lyngdorf, Royal Falcon Fleet, Research In Motion, FICOFI dan Weber Shandwick. Ia berjaya menampilkan nama-nama besar dari pelbagai industri antaranya Naib Pengerusi Tata Consultancy Services, S. Ramadorai selain bakat-bakat tempatan yang mencipta nama di peringkat antarabangsa, Pengarah Urusan Khazanah Nasional, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Kumpulan AirAsia, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.Penganjuran program sebegini bakal mempromosikan keupayaan Malaysia di mata dunia dalam menawarkan peluang-peluang pelaburan yang lebih baik berbanding pesaingnya selain meningkatkan lagi perdagangan ketika wujud persaingan yang sengit. Prestasi perdagangan negara amat menggalakkan...

Domestic Investment Summit 2011 (DIS 2011) telah diadakan pada 15 September 2011 (Khamis) bertempat di Diamond Ballroom, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Objektif penganjuran DIS 2011 adalah untuk meningkatkan kerjasama di antara Kerajaan dan sektor swasta, mendapatkan maklum balas mengenai isu-isu dan kaedah-kaedah mempromosikan pelaburan domestik, dan meningkatkan penglibatan pelabur domestik dalam mencapai sasaran pelaburan tahunan berjumlah RM115 bilion. DIS 2011 telah dipengerusikan oleh YAB Perdana Menteri dan dihadiri oleh lebih kurang 100 orang jemputan yang terdiri daripada ahli-ahli Majlis Ekonomi, tokoh-tokoh korporat dan perniagaan terkemuka tempatan serta wakil-wakil syarikat-syarikat berkaitan Kerajaan terpilih (GLCs) dan wakil Kementerian/agensi Kerajaan. YAB Perdana Menteri telah menegaskan pentingnya pelabur tempatan melabur di dalam negara memandangkan Kerajaan telah mewujudkan pelbagai peluang pelaburan termasuk melalui Program TransformasiEkonomi...

Sustained economic reform is essential. If there’s one lesson we can take away from the economic turmoil in the West, it’s that the failure to change will drive prosperity away. After decades of uninterrupted growth, Western nations are losing their edge in a cut-throat global environment which has seen Asia and Latin America emerge as alternative economic powerhouses. The fact that Eurozone leaders were contemplating seeking assistance from China and Brazil last weekend to bailout Greece speaks volumes on how the balance of economic power has shifted eastwards and the failure of the developed nations to reform their economies.  Malaysia, on the other hand is seeing a rise of investor confidence. This is in part due to the bold economic reforms we have undertaken since 2009, including liberalization. The proof is the fact that both the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Bank have recently highlighted Malaysia’s...

Moving out of the middle-income trap means, among other things, building an economy that has the capacity to innovate and use innovations to compete in the market place. So being able to convert ideas into products is a key to success. What is our record in this regard? Introduction To reach developed nation status by 2020, the Government has projected that the country needs to grow by 6% annually. And this growth has to be productivity-driven. Not only must we be able to put bricks and mortar together, but we must also be able to work smarter and be more creative and innovative. An innovation-driven economy must have the ability to commercialize ideas that individuals or R&D centres produce. It also must have the capacity to commercially exploit patented ideas and resources for public use.   Where do we stand? The latest World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report ranked Malaysia the 21st most competitive out of 142 economies it surveyed. However, in the...

YB Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamad, Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), stressed that the uncertain global economic scenario reflects the importance of the multilateral trading system in ensuring that economies resist protectionism. MITI Minister said this in the APEC Ministerial Meeting held in Honolulu, United States of America, on 11 November 2011. Minister Mustapa highlighted that the WTO has been an important body in ensuring that global trade is conducted according to rules and disciplines that have been collectively agreed, and that markets are kept open. Dato’ Sri Mustapa also drew attention to the fact that global supply chains are more integrated today and therefore vulnerable to the impacts of natural disaster, as seen in the Fukushima incident and the Thai floods. “Given our interdependence, we must resist protectionism and instead focus on measures that facilitate trade.” On the Doha Round, MITI Minister noted that negotiations over...

Sidang Kemuncak ASEAN ke 19 telah membincangkan beberapa cadangan ekonomi yang telah dikemukakan oleh Majlis Komuniti Ekonomi ASEAN. Dalam keadaan ekonomi dunia yang tidak menentu dan juga keraguan terhadap pemulihan segera ekonomi Eropah, pemimpin-pemimpin ASEAN dan rakan-rakan dialog telah bersetuju supaya ASEAN dan negara-negara Asia Timur perlu bekerjasama dan mempercepatkan integrasi ekonomi rantau ini. Pada keseluruhannya, kadar pelaksanaan purata langkah-langkah AEC bagi Fasa 1 dan 2 adalah 75.6 peratus.Kadar pelaksanaan purata bagi Malaysia untuk kedua-dua fasa adalah 88.55 peratus. Ini menunjukkan bahawa ASEAN menghadapi cabaran untuk merealisasikan Komuniti Ekonomi ASEAN pada tahun 2015, kecuali ASEAN menggandakan usaha bagi melaksanakan langkah-langkah integrasi ekonomi yang telah dipersetujui. Maklum balas yang diterima daripada sektor swasta menunjukkan bahawa ASEAN perlu memberi keutamaan kepada aspek-aspek berikut: (i) fasilitasi perdagangan; (ii) standard...

 

Media Statement by:

Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed Minister of International Trade and Industry   Strong FDI Performance for the First Nine Months of 2011  

1.   Malaysia’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the first nine months of 2011 was recorded at RM26.4 billion compared with RM18.6 billion for the same period in 2010 indicating a 42 per cent growth. This is based on the latest figure released by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM). For the record, total FDI for the whole of last year was RM29.3 billion, while in 2009, total FDI was RM5.0 billion.   2.   Based on the FDI flows for the first nine months, it is likely that this year’s total FDI will exceed last year’s figure.   3.   While the FDI inflows for Q1 and Q2 2011 were strong which stood at RM10.1 billion and RM11.07 billion respectively, the inflow of FDI in Q3 moderated to RM5.17 billion. This is partly due to weaker external economic conditions, especially in the Euro Zone and the...

 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade and investment liberalization initiative involving nine countries - Australia; Brunei; Chile; Malaysia; New Zealand; Peru; Singapore; United States; and Viet Nam. The aim of the TPP is the creation of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that will enhance trade and investment among the TPP partner countries and set new standards in the conduct of global trade.   To date, nine rounds of negotiations have been held. On November 11, 2011 during the APEC Summit in Honolulu, TPP Leaders were presented with the broad outline of a draft agreement which highlights the shared aspirations and ambitions of the nine countries involved. This was achieved despite the complexity of the issues discussed and the different developmental status of the negotiating partners.   TPP members are targeting to conclude negotiations in 2012, with July 2012 as an important milestone to agree on substantially all areas.  The Intersessional meeting scheduled from 5 –...