Polish agency promotes Malaysia as exporters' premium destination
KUALA LUMPUR: Poland has been actively promoting Malaysia as a premium destination for its entrepreneurs keen to expand their markets abroad.
Head of Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PITA) in Kuala Lumpur, Przemyslaw Zareba, said Malaysia is an ideal market for premium Polish products in this region due to several factors such as its robust economic growth, its population's high disposable income, and its consumers' enthusiastic reception towards new products.
“We are promoting Malaysia as a premium market, and actively encouraged our manufacturers in four industries to look to Malaysia for new business opportunities,” he told Bernama International News Service in an interview at his office, here.
The four industries are premium cosmetic and halal cosmetic industry, food industry, medical devices and pharmaceutical industry, and premium furniture industry.
He added that some of the Polish key players in these industries have also shown interests in Malaysia.
However, Zareba took note of the need for consumer products, especially foodstuffs and cosmetics, to be halal-compliant in order to be successfully marketed in a Muslim-majority country like Malaysia.
“One of the obstacles is halal certification. So we support our manufacturers in educating them on what is halal, and the halal system here.
“Secondly, we help them by connecting them with the right body in Malaysia, for example, JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) or the Department of Veterinary Services.
“Poland is very well known in Europe for quality food and we want to capitalise on this. So, selling more to Malaysia would definitely be based on halal certification. That is why we consider this as an important part,” he said.
PITA is a state-owned organisation specifically set up by the Polish government in July 2017 to promote Polish trade and businesses overseas, facilitate entrepreneurs' forays into new markets abroad, and also tasked with attracting foreign investments to Poland.
Zareba said that Poland's rapid economic growth has prompted the government to encourage Polish exporters and manufacturers to venture into new business opportunities beyond Europe, with the ASEAN region's population of 650 million harbouring a vast market potential.
Poland, a country of 38 million people, is currently the 24th biggest economy in the world and the seventh largest in the European Union.
The economy of the Central European nation is one of the most resilient in the continent, with a GDP growth of 5.1 per cent recorded in 2018.
“Our role is similar to Matrade (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation) and Malaysia Investment Development Authority (MIDA) combined. We want to encourage and show the Polish entrepreneurs that there are other potential markets that they can explore, and we invite them to be active here,” he said.