Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation

FRIDAY, 11 JANUARY 2019, KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s key prominent business figure Tan Sri (Dr.) Halim Mohammad has been appointed the seventh Chairman of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) effective 1 January 2019. Tan Sri Halim is the founding Director of the Halim Mazmin Berhad Group.

This is Tan Sri Halim’s second appointment as MATRADE’s Chairman. His first tenure as the organisation’s Chairman was from 2004 to 2010. Prior to that he was already a member of the MATRADE’s Board for eight years. During his first stewardship, he mooted the idea to introduce specialised business matching called Incoming Buying Mission now known as International Sourcing Programme and during this period also, Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) became the world’s largest halal trade fair. Under his helm, MATRADE began ramping up initiatives to venture into Latin America in the effort to diversify the export market. He is also a big proponent of Bumiputera and women participation in international trade.

Tan Sri Halim’s international accolades include being elected by Paris-based Bureau Veritas – one of the largest international ship classification societies – its sub-committee member, appointed the Board member of a United Kingdom (UK) - based North of England Protection & Indemnity Insurance Club for ship owners worldwide and elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport UK.

Back at home, Tan Sri Halim was made a Fellow of the Malay Chamber of Commerce, Kuala Lumpur, was appointed the head of Maritime Committee of the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), was a Board member of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and commissioned as the Honorary Captain of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Currently, he is also the Chairman, Board of Directors at University Malaysia Terengganu.

In addition to that, Tan Sri Halim is the owner and founder of Meritus University, a private higher learning institution which features Malaysia’s first floating campus specialising in maritime studies. He also owns a majority stake in Malaysia’s largest flying academy offering a complete airline transport pilot licence (ATPL) to various airlines including Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air Asia and several other regional airlines.

With his vast experience in key industries such as maritime, aviation and higher education as well as hospitality, Tan Sri Halim’s appointment is timely in guiding the organisation’s strategy, within the context of achieving RMK-11 Mid-Term Review export target of RM1.118 trillion by 2020. Tan Sri Halim’s knowledge of the export industry will add value to MATRADE in steering the direction of the trade promotion agenda for the country.

MATRADE is an agency under MITI and is mandated to execute trade promotion initiatives for the country. Incepted in 1993 after the enactment of MATRADE Act 1992, MATRADE executes two core activities – Exporters Development and Export Promotion. Currently, it has five local branches around Malaysia and 46 global offices that function to assist Malaysian companies through exporters capacity building efforts, financial facilitation, business matching, market intel and market access, project negotiations, trade issues and many others.

For more information about MATRADE visit its social media channels or www.matrade.gov.my.