MALAYSIA 1000 DIRECTORY LAUNCHED

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- Minister of International Trade and
Industry, Mustapa Mohamed, Friday launched the fourth edition of Malaysia
1000, the country's top corporate directory.

The directory is a joint project of BASIS Publications House Sdn Bhd, a
member of BASIS Group of Companies, Bernama, the Malaysian national news agency
and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation.

Malaysia 1000, the country's top corporate directory, provides access to
comprehensive information on the cream of Malaysian companies in a wide range of
corporate and industrial sectors, ranking them in terms of financial performance
and listing the leaders of the respective sectors, in accordance with an
organised format designed for fast and easy reference.

The main objective of Malaysia 1000 is to rank and identify the top 1000
corporations in the country in a number of categories like sales, profit, total
tangible assets, shareholders' funds, profit margins, return on capital employed
and return on shareholders' funds.
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in his foreword of the
directory that it was an indispensable resource to help investors and
entrepreneurs to make decisions.

Mustapa in his speech said the book was very informative and comprehensive.

He also said the government would not sideline local investments although
it has been promoting foreign investments in the country.

Mustapa urged Malaysian companies in the services sector such as those
involved in the consultancy services to export their services overseas.

"There are already a number of successful Malaysian companies venturing
overseas," he said.

The chairman of the BASIS Group of Companies, Abu Hassan Omar, said
the directory contained comprehensive information on the cream of Malaysian
companies covering a wide range of corporate and industrial sectors.

Bernama chairman, Mohd Annuar Zaini, said in his message that the news
agency's involvement in the publication of the directory was a result of its
diversification.

Over the years, he said, Bernama had evolved from just being a content
provider of news via news wires to becoming a news organisation using whatever
available platform to leverage on its editorial capability.
-- BERNAMA