KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), 60 Malaysian companies and government officials will be undertaking a Trade and Investment Mission (TIM) to Japan beginning from tomorrow until Dec 5, 2019.
MITI will be represented by its minister, Datuk Darell Leiking, accompanied by a delegation comprising Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie Apdal who is also the state’s finance minister and senior officials from MITI.
Officials from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Malaysia Automotive, Robotics & loT Institute (MARii), EXIM Bank and state governments such as Melaka, Penang and Terengganu will also participate in the trade mission.
“This Mission is an important annual engagement for the government to continue enhancing bilateral economic and trade relations between Malaysia and Japan,” MITI said in a statement today.
During the TIM, Darell will explain about business and investment opportunities in Malaysia through seminars in Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo.
The programme will include one-to-one business meetings, business matching programmes with selected captains of industry and small and medium enterprises with the objective of exploring further collaboration with Japan in high potential sectors such as aerospace, automotive, biomass, Halal industry and others.
In Tokyo, the delegation is scheduled to visit some prominent centres such as Tokyo Factory Automation Technical Centre and Euglena Co Ltd demo plant to explore Japan’s latest technology and development.
Darell will also be meeting with the chairman of Halal Training Expert Committee under the Ministry of Health to discuss the Digital Trade Halal Value Chain initiative.
The public-private partnership initiative, which was launched by MITI on Aug 15, 2019, aims to promote Malaysian Halal products and services in Japan in conjunction with Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Last year, Japan was Malaysia’s 4th largest overall global trading partner and 2nd largest after China for East Asia region while Malaysia was Japan’s 13th largest trading partner.
The total trade between both countries in 2018 stood at RM134.24 billion (US$33.28 billion) with Malaysia’s exports to Japan amounted to RM70.38 billion (US$17.45 billion) while imports were valued at RM63.86 billion (US$15.83 billion).
In terms of investments, Japan was still the largest foreign investor in Malaysia in the manufacturing sector for implemented projects.
As of June 2019, a total of 2,676 manufacturing projects were implemented with total investments of RM85.1 billion (US$26.6 billion) which have generated 344,682 employment.
The majority of these investments include electronics and electrical products, chemicals and chemical products, non-metallic mineral products and transport equipment. — Bernama
