The fourth edition of the Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE 2011) opened on Sunday at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), with a call to enhance strategic alliances and to focus on greater diversification between business communities of the two countries.
UAE’s Minister of Foreign Trade Her Highness Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi and her Malaysian counterpart YB Dato Mustapa Mohammed, Malaysia’s Minister of International Trade and Industry, opened the exhibition which will be held from April 17-20.
The venue in all its splendor.
MSE 2011 is held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade and is supported by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce. It is organised by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), and will bring together as many as 100 Malaysian companies from a diverse range of services.
The exhibition aims to provide service providers from Malaysia a networking avenue with major players in the Gulf region in various sectors such as Construction & Professional Services Related to Construction; Energy, Power Generation & Environment Management Services; Oil & Gas; ICT; Healthcare & Hospital-Related Services; and Specialised Training & Business Services.
Her Highness Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi said, “The fact that this exhibition has been carried out annually in the UAE underscores UAE’s commercial and economic importance for Malaysia and Malaysia’s importance to the UAE. These exhibitions play an important role in expanding the commercial and investment ties that exist between our two countries and in strengthening our strategic alliance.”
In 2010, UAE’s overall non-oil trade with Malaysia was US$3.1bn, a 7% increase from the previous year. Current UAE exports to Malaysia mainly comprise crude petroleum & refined petroleum products, and chemicals and chemical products, while imports from Malaysia include electrical and electronic products, machinery, appliances and parts, jewellery, and palm oil.
“It is without a doubt that the recent signing of the ‘GCC – Malaysia Framework Agreement on Economic, Commercial, Investment and Technical Cooperation’ in January of this year, will play a significant role in further advancing our commercial and economic ties,” she added.
In his speech, YB Dato Mustapha Mohammad elaborated that Malaysian ICT companies have captured over $200m worth of ICT projects which are at various stages of implementation including those at the Abu Dhabi Airport, Smart Card and Biometric Solutions for the City of Abu Dhabi, Software Development Solutions and Services for the Nakhiel Group in UAE and for Alquera Group Holding (Abu Dhabi).
“As of last year, Malaysian construction companies have completed a total of 556 construction and infrastructure development projects globally, valued at more than $14.8bn. 74% of the projects are in the Middle East. Among the notable projects involving Malaysian contractors in the Middle East include the Jamarat Bridge, Mecca; Bahrain International Circuit; Abu Dhabi F1 circuit; and Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi,” added Mustapha.
On healthcare and hospital related services, he explained that Malaysia is able to provide world-class medical services at affordable prices. For example, a Heart Bypass costing $130,000 in the United States would cost only less than sixth of that in Malaysia.
Malaysia also holds the distinction of being the first country in the world to have a full-fledged Islamic banking system operating in parallel with the conventional banking system. The Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) offers a platform for financial institutions to conduct Islamic financial activities. Various incentives are available to foreign financial institutions participating in the MIFC including licences for conducting foreign currency businesses, attractive tax incentives and facilitative immigration policies.
On the investment perspective, the Minister announced that foreign investors continue to show significant interest in making Malaysia a base for their investments in high value activities including in emerging technologies. Malaysia received substantial investment in the electronics and electrical (E&E) industry of some $4bn or 41% of the total foreign investments approved in 2010. The total approved foreign investment in 2010 was $9bn.
To-date, a total of 33 projects with investments amounting to $1.26bn has been approved from GCC Countries. The investments are mainly in basic metal products, petroleum products including petrochemicals, food products, machinery and equipment, and chemical & chemicals products. GCC investments in Malaysia are mainly in mergers and acquisitions rather than in greenfield investments. There are now more GCC investments in the financial services and construction sectors in Malaysia.
He encouraged investors from GCC countries to look at opportunities in priority sectors such as oil & gas, chemicals, halal food, advance electronics, tourism and healthcare. The GCC countries could leverage on their strong sovereign wealth funds to capitalize on these opportunities.
Adapted from AMEInfo.com
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