Annual Report 2017

17 O U R I N S T I T U T I O N emerging market changing forces into their very DNA could be the architects of their eventual insignificance. MATRADE’s task today is to prepare our stakeholders for the next 25 years. Our role is to educate and guide stakeholders on the course they need to navigate in order to address tomorrow’s challenges today. While we may be the change agent for them, business competitiveness, creativity and hunger to succeed will be their own responsibility: MATRADE cannot bring to the global marketplace players who are not ready. Internally, MATRADE needs to prepare itself for the next quarter of a century. We will need to be more nimble, agile and adept than ever before if we are to be in real-time sync with the accelerating pace of global trade. We will require even greater levels of trade specialisation and targeting, supported by multiple streams of Big Data. We will need to move away frommultiple siloed vertical programmes towards a single and holistic platform which integrates traditional TPO activities with e-commerce, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality serving as the lynchpins. In short, the coming years will need to see the emergence of a fully Digital MATRADE. A Digital MATRADE will require a digital workforce. This means the human element of MATRADE will need a reboot. They need to be given the digital tools and skills to execute work in a fully digital environment. Our talent pool will need to be more closely aligned with the needs of international trade. Simultaneously, work goals, processes and roles will need to become more open, transparent and accountable. Once every member of MATRADE is in sync with one another, can we then begin to function as a single cohesive and united organisation. With that in mind, it will be the role of future CEOs to keep us on this path of unity. Over the years, the North-South Expressway has retained its strategic importance and value to the country by continuous improvements, expansions and upgrades. The linking of other highway systems to the NSE has only heightened its importance and relevance as the country’s central nervous system. Similarly, MATRADE has retained its relevance and significance over the years by a similar programme of sustained capacity enhancements and improvements. Our role as the country’s leading trade facilitator is as significant and vital as the NSE’s. We cannot let MATRADE fail or slide into irrelevance. The first 25 years of our history has resulted in hope and promise. We intend to build on that to achieve success and prosperity for the next 25 years. Thank you. IR DR MOHD SHAHREEN ZAINOOREEN MADROS Chief Executive Officer MATRADE Studies have shown that every dollar spent by TPOs on trade promotion and/ or intervention have resulted in an increased contribution to GDP “ Tremendous opportunities lie ahead for Malaysian companies with the advent of Industry Revolution 4.0.”