Busy Schedule Awaits Minister Mustapa In Europe

By Manik Mehta FRANKFURT, Sept 11 (Bernama) -- A busy schedule awaits Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed who will be on a four-nation tour of Europe from Oct 17 to 24, taking him to Hamburg (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium) and Stockholm (Sweden). Mustapa will participate in a seminar on Oct 18 in Hamburg which will highlight investment opportunities for the German industry in Malaysia. “Two successful German companies which have a strong presence in Malaysia, will make a presentation and share their experiences in Malaysia, offering tips to potential investors on how to negotiate their way in Malaysia,” said the Malaysia Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Frankfurt Director S. Siva. MIDA Frankfurt is involved in organising three of the minister’s four stopovers – Hamburg, Amsterdam and Brussels – whereas the MIDA office in Stockholm will look after his visit in Sweden. “The two German companies making a presentation in Hamburg are SEW Eurodrive, which produces gears for transportation and has opened a new plant in Johor Baru (the capital city of Malaysia's southern state Johor). The company, a leading supplier of drive technology, was currently expanding its operations and was setting up a new drive technology centre in the Frontier Industrial Park-2 in Johor Baru,” Siva added. The second German company, Selangor-based Airfoil Malaysia, is involved in maintenance, repairs and overhaul services and repair of aircraft engines. Airfoil is a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Aero Engines. This venture would strengthen Malaysia’s position in the aerospace sector which has been identified as a “game changing industry’’ that could provide a strong uplifting boost to Malaysia’s global industrial image. In Amsterdam, the second stopover, the Mustapa would attend a dinner hosted, in his honour, by Ahmad Nazri Yusof, the Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands. On Oct 19, Mustapa would meet Malaysian investors in the Netherlands such as IOI Loder’s Crockland, Sime Darby Unimills and KLK Oleo. This would be followed by a seminar on business opportunities in Malaysia where the minister would deliver a keynote address, followed by a briefing by Marco Winter, the Executive Director of the Malaysian-Dutch Business Council, and presentations by Cor Te Henepe, Senior Vice-President Finance at BE Semiconductor Industries (BESI) and by Jaap Mazereeuw, Chairman and Managing Director of Enza Zadeh. Both companies have a presence in Malaysia. BESI is considered the world’s largest producer of machinery used for the manufacture of semiconductors while Enza Zaden is one of the world’s largest vegetable seed producers. Enza Zaden has bolstered its R&D operations in Malaysia with additional investment. Next, Mustapa would head for the high-tech centre cum campus on the southern edge of the Dutch city of Eindhoven, home to more than 140 companies and institutions, comprising over 10,000 product developers, researchers and entrepreneurs. This campus has been rated by the international business media as “one of the best locations in the world for high-tech venture development and startup activity”. The minister would also visit the Sime Darby Unimills BV in Zwijndrecht and then depart later for Brussels where he would have a roundtable meeting with Belgian companies. Mustapa would also call on Cecilia Malstrom, the EU Commissioner for Trade, and hold discussions on palm oil with European and Malaysian parliamentarians. On Oct 21, the minister would meet Malaysian students and then depart for Stockholm where the MIDA office in the Swedish capital takes over. Siva, who has had two postings to Germany and who has been praised by both Malaysian and German companies for what they say is his “quick action and professionalism”, recently institutionalised his brainchild – the ASEAN Investment Forum – an annual event which was held for the second time in July 2017 in Frankfurt. Siva roped in his counterparts from some other ASEAN countries in Frankfurt to participate in the forum which fostered a close dialogue between ASEAN member states and potential German companies. “My counterparts from the other ASEAN investment offices in Frankfurt have assured me that this forum will be held regularly each year,” Siva said, adding that it allowed both the hosting countries and the German companies to share their experiences and views of conditions in the respective ASEAN country of their operation. “Like Malaysia, the other ASEAN countries are also courting SMEs for investments,” the MIDA director maintained. But Siva, who is returning home end-October on completion of his second Germany posting, said his new brainchild was to organise a job fair that would be used to attract Malaysian engineers, educated and trained in Germany, for jobs with German companies in Malaysia. Siva’s successor, Yusri Hasnan Chu Abu Bakar, will take office on Oct 25, according to the tentative information available. -- BERNAMA