MACEOS aims to position Malaysia as key business events destination

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (MACEOS) is eyeing to position Malaysia as a global key business events destination and has unveiled a slew of strategic sustainability initiatives to support the Net Zero agenda.

President Francis Teo said the association will align all initiatives around sustainability, and therefore expects its members to implement similar efforts within their business activities.

Among the initiatives unveiled today is the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Yayasan Hijau Malaysia to implement a series of awareness and training programmes for MACEOS members to equip them with the right tools and knowledge to drive sustainability among players.

“The partnership with the agency under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability further cements our commitment and partnership to integrate standard of quality practice into our business,” he said in his speech at the Malaysia Business Events Awards (MBEA) here, on Wednesday night.

Teo said that this year, MBEA focused on sustainability and green initiatives as key award criteria, in addition to innovation, creativity and impact, among others., He said MACEOS is also committed to raising the quality of business events in Malaysia and has been on a journey with the Department of Standards Malaysia to develop standards and regulate the industry.

The standards were developed for three categories, namely convention, exhibition centre and event space requirements, professional congress organiser requirements, and professional exhibition organiser requirements.

“These standards will ensure quality benchmarks are in place to instil trust and confidence in our potential clients, enabling us to strengthen Malaysia’s branding as a business events destination and allow us to expand into new markets,” he added.

Teo encourages MACEOS members to review the standard draft, which is under public viewing, to share their feedback before the deadline on Feb 14.