“We hope Malaysian companies can ride on the e-commerce bandwagon to increase exports to China.”
DATUK AUREEN JEAN NONIS, Matrade’s Strategic Planning Division senior director on China Asean Expo 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) aims to achieve sales of RM450 million at the 15th China Asean Expo (Caexpo) 2018 in Nanning, China from September 12-15.
Strategic Planning Division senior director Datuk Aureen Jean Nonis said Matrade would conduct a stricter selection process of companies participating at the expo due to limited space at the Malaysian pavilion.
“We need to select companies which can offer quality products, services and brands with greater capabilities to leverage China’s huge market. There are 179 booths at the Malaysian pavilion,” she told a press conference on Caexpo 2018, here, yesterday.
Aureen also said the event had never failed to increase market access into China. Malaysian exhibitors and government agencies raked in total sales of RM405.5 million last year.
“China has a well-developed ecommerce ecosystem and the largest e-commerce market in the world. We hope Malaysian companies can ride on the ecommerce bandwagon to increase exports to China.
“Our eTRADE programme is to assist companies to be on e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba.com, Ule.com, JD.com and Tmall.com, etc. At Caexpo, companies will have opportunities to meet up with platform operators.”
This year, Matrade will organise participation from the food and beverage sector, health and wellness, lifestyle, education, medical tourism and logistics.
Caexpo vice-secretary general Yang Yan Yan hoped that China and Malaysia would further explore investment opportunities, particularly in tourism.
“Chinese consumers are very fond of Malaysian products such as durian and white coffee. We also look forward to enhancing the synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative routes, while helping Malaysia to attract more international investors and quality trade visitors at the event,” she said.
Caexpo is a major trade event in China. It is sponsored by the governments of China and Asean member countries, with the aim of promoting the China-Asean free-trade agreement and business opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative, mainly in trade, investment and tourism.
According to the Statistics Department, from January to February, Malaysia’s total trade with China grew 7.9 per cent to RM46.54 billion, compared with RM43.14 billion in the same period last year.
Total bilateral trade grew 20.6 per cent to RM290.65 billion last year compared with RM240.9 billion in 2016, while exports accounted for RM126.15 billion and imports at RM164.5 billion.