Utar signs Belt and Road MoU with Mbrace

KAJANG: Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) will be collaborating more closely with the MCA Belt and Road Centre (Mbrace) to organise forums for businesses looking to benefit from China’s Belt and Road initiative in the future.

Utar and Mbrace exchanged memorandums of understanding at the launch of the “Belt and Road Entrepreneurs Auditorium”, a series of business networking and sharing sessions with the first meeting held at Utar’s Sungai Long campus yesterday.

Utar council member and Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (Insap) chairman Senator Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung said during the MoU ceremony that Malaysia had made significant economic gains last year.

“Total trade for the first 10 months of 2017 amounted to RM1.465tril, an increase of 21.5% compared to the same period in 2016,” said Dr Hou.

He added that aside from business, Malaysia and China cooperation extended into other areas, such as cultural exchanges that included the participation of more than 1,000 Chinese performers and artists during the recent Blossom Arts Festival at Wisma MCA last year.

Mbrace chairman Datuk Seri Chuah Poh Khiang said there would be more national-level research and knowledge sharing sessions on the Belt and Road initiative as a result of the collaboration.