Mustapa ends China mission with flying colours

The International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed not only ended his trade and investment mission to the Guangdong province with flying colours but will take the economic relations between Kuala Lumpur-Guangdong to greater heights.

The mission had successfully increased the awareness among businessmen in Guangdong about making Malaysia one of their trade and investment destinations, the minister said.

The response from a seminar co-organised by the Malaysian Investment and Development Authority (MIDA) and Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) was overwhelming, he said.

Six hundred participants from Guangdong attend the seminar to learn more about the opportunities in Malaysia.

"They came from various sectors which could not only enhance trade and investment with the province but also improve the people-to-people relations," he told Bernama.

He attributed the good economic relations between Malaysia and Guangdong to the strong Malaysia-China relationship as well as the relationship between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and China president, Xi Jinping.

Among companies that managed to garner significant interest from Chinese businessmen during the seminar included Kaj Development Sdn Bhd, which recently launched the Melaka Gateway, and Kuantan Port Consortium Sdn Bhd as well as the East Coast Economic Region.

Another achievement during the trade and investment mission was the agreement between the minister and the Vice-Governor of Guangdong Xu Shaohua to establish a joint trade and investment committee, an idea first mooted by the Party Secretary of Guangdong, Hu Chunhua during his meeting with Najib in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Acknowledging the importance of Guangdong in Malaysia-China economic relations, the minister said the joint committee was the first of its kind between Malaysia and a province in China with the view to increase economic activities between Malaysia and Guangdong.

He said the joint committee would also promote new economic areas for cooperation between Malaysia and Guangdong.

During his courtesy call to Hu, Mustapa had suggested two-levels of discussion with the authority in Guangdong for the implementation of the joint committee.

The first level of discussion will be headed by Consulate-General of Malaysia in Guangdong, Francisco Munis, to discuss on the technical aspects of the joint committee while the second level will be headed by the minister himself and deputised by the Special Envoy to China Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting to discuss the policy aspects of the committee.

Being the wealthiest province in China, Guangdong is the largest trading province with Malaysia, constituting a quarter of the bilateral trade between Malaysia and China last year amounting to over US$100 billion (RM320.5 billion).

With a population of 108 million people, Guangdong recorded a Gross Domestic Product and trade exceeding US$1 trillion (RM3.2 trillion) last year.

The province also hosted at least 10 percent of the US$6.3 billion (RM20.1 billion) investment made by Malaysian companies in China last year.

Malaysia and Guangdong is looking to improve bilateral trade to US$30 billion (RM96.1 billion) this year and US$40 billion (RM128.2 billion) by 2017.

After Guangdong, the minister will depart to Xian, Shaanxi Province, to join the prime minister for the 40th anniversary celebration of Malaysia-China bilateral relations.