MATRADE Works with Islamic Development Bank to Create Business Opportunities For Malaysia With OIC Countries
TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2019, KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) is collaborating with Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to promote business partnerships between Malaysian companies and their counterparts in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) nations around the world. The collaboration will see MATRADE leading an effort called Reverse Linkage (RL) to create business opportunities for Malaysian companies in the 56 OIC countries.
The RL is an area of coverage under a Memorandum of Understanding between IsDB and Ministry of Finance. It is based on three main pillars – social development, infrastructure development and industrial needs. The RL aims to provide partnership opportunities among the countries in need of assistance in terms of technical expertise and experience sharing in various economic sectors. Through the RL, Malaysian companies will have the opportunity to access the OIC market of 1.8 billion people.
According to MATRADE’s Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Wan Latiff Wan Musa, MATRADE views the collaboration with IsDB as strategic in helping the development of the OIC countries. “MATRADE fully supports this collaboration as we believe in mutual benefits. This effort will boost respective countries’ economic well-being through partnerships that are driven by complementing capabilities. We hope our counterparts in the OIC will benefit from working with Malaysian partners through the RL initiatives,†Wan Latiff said at a workshop on Mapping Malaysia’s Resource Centres (MMRC) jointly held with IsDB at Menara MATRADE yesterday.
The MMRC, one of the initiatives under RL is a directory of Malaysian Service Providers and product suppliers. The MMRC will feature companies from 14 Malaysian key sectors such as Aerospace, Construction & Infrastructure, Education, Islamic Finance, Halal, Logistics & Transportation, Oil & Gas, among others.
The directory is scheduled to be launched in February 2020 and will be distributed by IsDB to stakeholders in the OIC member countries. Apart from the Malaysian companies, the MMRC will also feature key Malaysian agencies and serve as a reference for IsDB when matching their potential clients with Malaysian business community.
“This is a strong value proposition for us as we get to leverage on IsDB’s credibility in matching Malaysian businesses with reliable and high-value international partners. This in the long run can positively impact Malaysia’s export growth,†Wan Latiff shared.
IsDB’s representative, also the Regional Coordinator for RL in Asia, En. Aminuddin Mat Arif shared the same sentiment. “We are very pleased to work with MATRADE as our Malaysian partner for the RL. This collaboration will help us identify the right parties from both the public and private sector and allows Malaysian businesses to share their industry knowledge and expertise with our 56 member countries. There are a lot of opportunities for Malaysian companies from this partnership and we hope the directory will be a catalyst of many more initiatives to further promote Malaysian expertise in the OIC countries,†Aminuddin said.
Malaysian companies keen to know more about MATRADE’s facilitations can go to MATRADE’s website www.matrade.gov.my for more details, or reach out to MATRADE through any of its social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram).
