First M’sia-Kazakhstan business council meeting
KUALA LUMPUR: Come Oct 30, the inaugural meeting of the Malaysian-Kazakhstan Business Council (MKBC) will be held in Kazakhstan’s largest city and former capital, Almaty.
A business forum will be held during the event which will see participation of representatives from the government and business circles of both countries.
The main goals of the meeting are to present opportunities for expanding bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation, to provide a platform for discussing potential joint projects and intensify business contacts between Kazakhstan and Malaysia.
The agreement on the establishment of MKBC was signed during Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s two- day visit to Malaysia, beginning April 17, in 2012.
The council was registered with the Registrar of Societies Malaysia this year and is now an independent and legal entity.
Its activities are aimed at supporting private companies interested in doing business, as well as promote goods and services in the markets of both countries.
Today, Malaysia is among Kazakhstan’s leading trade partners in the Southeast Asian region. By the end of 2017, mutual trade increased by 49 per cent and totalled US$123.4 million.
Positive dynamics have also been observed in the current year. The first eight months of 2018 saw mutual trade increasing by 72 per cent, totalling US$112.6 million.
Today, Malaysian companies and investors in Kazakhstan have invested in projects in the field of oil and gas, agriculture, engineering and construction to the tune of US$1 billion.
Other promising areas of enhancing cooperation can be seen in the fields of Islamic finance, halal industry, renewable energy, tourism and many others.
The forum will also see the signing of several memoranda of understanding among MKBC, Kazakh Invest National Company JSC, Chamber of International Commerce of Kazakhstan LLP, as well as other agreements on business cooperation between companies of both countries. — Bernama