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Switzerland:Malaysia - gateway for ASEAN market access |
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2004-10-8
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Swiss businessmen have been urged to view Malaysia as a spring board for entering Asean markets which is now a free trade area, says International Trade and Industry Minister of Malaysia Idah Aziz.
"Locating in Malaysia means access into Asean. It is viable to locate to Malaysia to service the Asean market," she said in her address at a seminar on "Business Opportunities in Malaysia" organised by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) and the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) here Tuesday.
With strong business links among the business networking and linkages with Asean economies Malaysia is country''s major trading partner, said the minister, who is heading the ministry''s trade and investment mission to Europe from Sept 30 to Oct 13.
Through strategic location and business partnership,Malaysia has a range of competitively-priced products and services to offer to Switzerland''s industrial and consumer market, Rafidah said.The bilateral trade for the first seven months this year was up at US$721 million (US$1 = RM3.80) that is 28.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
Exports last year rose by 38 percent to US$186 million and the items were electrical and electronic products (E&E), crude petroleum, optical and scientific equipment, chemical and chemical products and rubber products.
Meanwhile imports from Switzerland were mainly manufactured goods such as machinery, appliances and parts, E&E products, chemical and chemical products, optical and scientific equipment and the manufacture of metal.
Rafidah said that Malaysia and Switzerland have established business ties more than a century ago, with investments made by pioneer companies such as Diethelm, Nestle and F.E. Zuellig.
Presently,there are more than 120 companies with Swiss interests in Malaysia and the Swiss Malaysian Business Association (SMBA) was established to promote businesses.
Other notable Swiss companies with operations in Malaysia are Escatec, Swiss Reinsurance, Roche, Zurich Insurance, Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Novartis and Holcim.
From 1994-2003, there were US$829.7 million approved Swiss investments, of which US$610.9 million were new investments.These were concentrated in E&E, machinery manufacturing, textile and textile products, food manufacturing and plastic products.
As Switzerland is well known for industries such as chemicals, machine tools, precision engineering and electrical appliances, industries in Malaysia of potential for their investments include machinery and equipment, information and communications technology (ICT), Photonics, biotechnology and services.
Swiss companies too should take advantage of the customised ICT environment and incentives available in the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) to undertake research, develop and test new products and technologies. |
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