MAI, IOI ink MoA for automotive collaboration
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) and Institut Otomotif Indonesia (IOI) yesterday inked a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to further realise the potential of automotive industry collaborations between the two countries.
The MoA focuses on human capital development, supply chain development, identification of market opportunities, automotive industry technology, quality enhancement and research collaboration to develop the sector in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Since the initial collaboration between
MAI and IOI last year, 10 Malaysian automotive companies had established business partnerships with their Indonesian counterparts, demonstrating an evergrowing link between the countries as regional trading partners.
The MoA exchange was witnessed by International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking and Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry director general for international industrial access and development, Gusti Putu Suryawirawan.
The signing ceremony was held in conjunction with Leiking’s working visit to Jakarta.
“Indonesia has long been a close trading partner of Malaysia. From 2006 to last year, bilateral trade had improved significantly, almost doubled from US$9.02 billion (RM36.8 billion) in 2006 to US$16.89 billion last year.
“The 2017 figures represent 4.1 per cent of Malaysia’s global trade, thus making Indonesia our seventh largest trading partner globally,” said Leiking.
In March, MAI and IOI organised a joint business matching programme between Malaysian and Indonesian automotive vendors.
It served as a platform for vendors to identify potential business partners for greater market access in both countries. It was participated by 18 Malaysian and 30 Indonesian vendors from various automotive manufacturing clusters.
“This should be seen as an early success for MAI and IOI. However, we must not rest on our laurels. Moving forward, MAI and IOI must continue to support and facilitate partnerships between both countries,” said MAI chief executive officer Datuk Madani Sahari.
He said MAI and IOI would continue to support and facilitate partnerships between the countries through developmental programmes.