Matrade plans 113 trade promotion activities in 2011
New Straits Times, Malaysia
Matrade plans 113 trade promotion activities in 2011
2 December 2010
KUALA LUMPUR: (Bernama) Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) has lined up 113 trade promotion activities under its 2011 Work Programme to further expand exports.
Its chief executive officer, Datuk Noharuddin Nordin, said among the activities it would undertake included trade fairs, specialised marketing missions, joint promotion activities and global supply chain initiatives.
"As part of branding efforts, three special projects — Malaysia Services Exhibition 2011, Intrade Malaysia 2011 and Mihas 2011 — will be continued," he told a media briefing on 2011 Work Programme for 2011 here today.
He said the key difference between this year’s Work Programme and next year’s was previously, it was purely driven by the market but for 2011 it has to look at the New Economic Model.
Noharuddin said 2011 Work Programme has also factored in prevailing global and domestic macroeconomic trends.
"Other factors taken into account are the alignment of Matrade’s goals with those of the government’s National Economic Agenda as well as addressing the immediate needs of the Malaysian trading community to further expand the export presence," he said.
He said export promotion would be intensified in fast-growing markets in East Asia, India and Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and increased market presence would be establish in new and emerging markets such as Africa, Latin America and Central Asia.
"Opportunities in traditional markets such as the Asean, US and European Union will be optimised by expanding into new market segments as well as enhancing market visibility and strengthening the credibility of Malaysia’s products and services," he said.
Noharuddin said the new initiatives under 2011 Work Programme would include integrating Malaysian vendors into the global supply chain, branding of Malaysian professional services and implementation of information and communication- (ICT) based initiatives.
"As one of the strategic enablers for Matrade’s delivery of services, Matrade’s ICT will focus on providing innovative ICT solutions to deliver high value services to our clients," he said.
Malaysian companies can access Matrade portal at www.matrade.gov.my for updates on Matrade’s Work Programme, he said.
He said the country would continue to leverage on free trade agreements (FTAs) by building meaningful trade momentum from them.
"At present, about 60 per cent of Malaysia’s exports are with countries with which the nation has FTAs, either bilaterally or through Asean," he said.
Noharuddin said Matrade has also restructured its organisation, which would take effect on Jan 1, 2011, to strengthen its partnership with the industry and make the organisation more client-centric.
"The restructuring is necessary in order to ensure the effective implementation of the export-promotion programmes or activities and achieve a meaningful and accountable outcome," he said.
