Chamber sees big potential in Central Asia, Africa

KUALA LUMPUR: Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM) members continue to see huge investment potential overseas, especially in Central Asia and Africa.

Its president Datuk Syed Ali Alattas said the chamber had lined up a few trade missions to these countries to explore business opportunities in various sectors, including agriculture, trading and services.

“While the chamber foresees that it is going to be another challenging year for our members, it is equally crucial to continue to explore business opportunities overseas.

“We will continue to explore opportunities in Central Asia and Africa, including countries such as Sudan, Belarus, China and United Arab Emirates,” he told a media briefing, here, yesterday.

Syed Ali said the European Union (EU) was negotiating economic partnership agreements with Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar and the Seychelles.

Exports to the EU from eastern and southern Africa are dominated by sugar, coffee, fish, tobacco, copper and crude oil.

Syed Ali said DPMM members were planning to tap the opportunities for local commodities that could be exported to the EU.

In January, a news report quoted Syed Ali as saying that the government needed to focus on the Asean market and other regional trade agreements instead of a massive trade pact.

“The Malaysian market is already good. Now we need to give priority to making further inroads into Asian markets. We also have the Developing 8 (D-8) countries (to explore). This already holds huge business potential,” he was quoted as saying.

The D-8 comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.