MALAYSIA CONSIDERS BUSINESS CARD PROPOSAL TO EASE TRADE WITH THAILAND

GEORGE TOWN (Penang, Malaysia), June 2 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government
is ready to consider Thailand's proposal to establish a business card that would
ease trade transactions between entrepreneurs from five provinces in southern
Thailand and five states from northern Malaysia.

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Mukhriz Mahathir said
the card would enable entrepreneurs to move easily from one location to another
within Malaysia and Thailand without any bureaucracy.

"The functions of this card will be the same like the business card issued
for Apex members, but this is still under consideration," he said after
attending the Lima Dasar Summit conference here Thursday.

The five-day conference, which took off Wednesday will end this Sunday.

A total of 209 exhibition stalls have been also set up at the empty lot
opposite the Queensbay Mall here in conjunction with the summit.

Out of the lots, 150 stalls belong to Malaysian entrepreneurs, 54 to traders
from Thailand, while entrepreneurs from China and Palestine have taken up two
stalls each and a Singaporean entrepreneur has taken up one stall.

The five Malaysian states involved in the summit are Kelantan, Kedah,
Penang, Perlis and Perak while the regions from southern Thailand are
Narathiwat, Yala, Songkhla, Pattani and Satun.

Mukhriz said that apart from the business card, discussions today also
centred on investments particularly in halal food.

"There were suggestions for joint venture operations between Malaysia and
Thailand in the production of halal food especially in terms of skilled
workers," he said.

Other topics discussed included tourism, education and trade.

These topics had been discussed at the previous summit and there was a
follow-up discussion and a status report, updating on the progress made in the
areas, he said.