The 43rd ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Meeting was officially declared open by H.E. Professor Dr. Boediono, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia in Manado in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia.Following the opening ceremony, H.E Dr.Mari Elka Pangestu, Minister of Trade Indonesia chaired the 25th ASEAN Free Trade Area (AEM-AFTA) Council Meeting, the first of the series of meetings that will be held over the next three days. The focus of the discussions by Ministers at the AFTA Council Meeting was on initiatives aimed at further facilitating trade within the region. The initiatives discussed include elimination of non-tariff barriers that impede trade, simplification of rules and procedures of doing business and enhancing use of ICT in customs clearance of goods within the region. Y.B. Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry represented Malaysia at the 25th AEM-AFTA Council Meeting. The Ministers agreed that there is a need to institute an...

 

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...

The investigation on the imports of hot rolled coils (HRC) into Malaysia pursuant to the Safeguards Act 2006 was initiated on 1 May 2011 upon receiving a petition for an investigation submitted by Megasteel Sdn. Bhd. The company claimed that the imports of HRC into Malaysia have increased from 2007 to 2010 and have caused serious injury to the domestic industry in Malaysia.   Pursuant to section 20 of the Safeguards Act 2006, the Government has completed the investigation and has made a preliminary determination that there was an increase in imports by 35% during the period of injury determination i.e., from 1 January 2010 to 30 September 2010. However, the increased in imports have not caused or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry.   Based on the preliminary findings, the Government decided to terminate this investigation on the imports of HRC into Malaysia on 22 August 2011, the day the notice of negative preliminary determination is published in the...

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...

The Government of Malaysia has agreed to enforce mandatory standards effective 1st November 2011on 6 tariff lines of aluminium sheets and foils.The enforcement of the mandatory standards has been gazetted under the Customs Order (Import Prohibition) (Amendment) (No.3) 2011 on 30th September 2011 involving the following Customs Harmonised System (HS) tariff lines: aluminium plates, sheets and strip of a thickness exceeding 0.2 mm, whether or not alloyed 7606.11.000 7606.12.000 aluminium foil of a thickness not exceeding 0.2mm, not backed: 7606.91.000 7606.92.000 rolled but not further worked other 7607.11.000 7607.19.000 2. The implementation of mandatory standards on aluminium productsis to ensure raw materials used in end-products meet the quality and safety requirements, minimise the importation of sub-standards products, as well as support the development and competitiveness of the local aluminium industry by producing high quality products that meet international...

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...

Baru-baru ini pada 16 Nov 2011, Timbalan Menteri MITI, YB Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir telah menghadiri majlis memeterai pengeluaran bersejarah panel solar yang ke 3,000 mega-watt di Kilang First  Solar Malaysia Sdn Bhd di Kulim Hi-Tech Park.Dato’ Mukhriz berkata melalui usaha kerajaan banyak syarikat berkelas dunia telah memulakan operasi pengeluaran panel solar di Malaysia. Dengan menawarkan insentif seperti pelupusan cukai keuntungan syarikat pengeluar panel solar selama 15 tahun, kadar faedah yang rendah dan infrastruktur yang baik, Malaysia kini menjadi pilihan utama destinasi pelaburan langsung asing (FDI) dalam sektor ini. Menurut Dato’ Mukhriz lagi, kerajaan komited untuk memastikan Malaysia menyediakan persekitaran terbaik bagi pelaburan asing dan domestik bagi memastikan sektor ini berkembang pesat. Penggunaan 100% tenaga kerja tempatan di First Solar Malaysia membuktikan kejayaan Malaysia sebagai destinasi pelaburan yang mampu bersaing dengan negara lain terutama...