Vital to promote brand Malaysia, says Mustapa

SINGAPORE: Efforts to brand Malaysia more aggressively are necessary during these challenging times especially in the fields of investment, trade promotions and tourism, says International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

“We also need to tell more people that the country is developing and not bankrupt or in crisis,” he told reporters after an informal gathering with about 15 Malaysian businessmen who have established their businesses here.

Mustapa said while he understood the Prime Minister’s advice for ministries to tighten their belts in the face of challenging times ahead, ministries that aggressively promote Brand Malaysia should be given additional allocation under Budget 2017.

He said MITI was not working alone but had strategic partnerships with international banks and accounting firms to promote Malaysia as an investment destination to their major clients.

“Banks like HSBC is doing business in 70 countries. This is a huge network that we can tap,” he said, adding that his ministry would have other Malaysian agencies such as Iskandar Regional Development Authority and InvestKL on trade trips.

Mustapa said in his meeting with Singapore’s Chinese Chambers of Commerce, he was informed that Malaysia was now a preferred location for investment compared with China.

Our close proximity to Singapore was a huge advantage for us, he said, adding that Singapore also provided employment for more than 100,000 Malaysians who travelled via the Causeway and Second Link.

He added that Singaporeans made up 50% of tourist arrivals to Malaysia.

At a later function in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Bernama quoted Mustapa as saying that the government had set a new bilateral trade target of US$25bil (RM104bil) with Indonesia to be achieved by 2020 from US$16bil (RM66.8bil) recorded in 2015.

“The target was revised slightly lower from the earlier target of US$30bil (RM1.25 trillion) due to the current weak global economic environment. “We have to be realistic. “With the current global economic uncertainty, it is quite impossible to reach US$30bil by 2020,” he said after holding bilateral talks with his Indonesian counterpart Enggartiasto Lukita in conjunction with the one-day Matrade-Kadin Indonesia Business Forum.