TPPA won't negatively affect Bumiputera vendor firms - Mustapa Mohamed

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will not negatively affect Bumiputera vendor companies, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

Mustapa said this has been proven by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two anchor companies under the Bumiputera Vendor Development Programme.

"The TPPA will not negatively affect Bumiputera vendor companies, and today we are collaborating with two more anchor firms," he said at the MoU signing here today.

The two companies -- Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd and Uzma Engineering Sdn Bhd -- will help Bumiputera vendors with training and technical advice as well as research and development.

Of the 18 anchor companies currently (up from 16 in 2014), 11 are government-linked companies under Khazanah Nasional Bhd, six are local firms and one is a multi-national.

A total of 2,670 Bumiputera vendor companies have been appointed by anchor companies, and in 2015 they had a combined revenue of RM10.867 billion.

As of December 2015, the total number of vendor companies registered under the 18 anchor firms stood at 55,066, comprising 17,729 Bumiputera vendor firms (32 per cent) with the remaining 37,337 (68 per cent) consisting of non-Bumiputera and foreign vendor firms.

The Bumiputera vendor firms accounted for RM23.15 billion in revenue (42 per cent), with non-Bumiputera and foreign vendor firms accounting for RM30.95 billion (58 per cent).