ID :
358909
Tue, 03/03/2015 - 12:30
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Malaysia Upbeat On Achieving US$160 Bln Bilateral Trade With China

KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia remains confident of achieving its bilateral trade target of US$160 billion (US$1=RM3.63) with China by 2017 despite the MH370 flight incident, says the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Minister Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia's total trade with China was not affected much, although fewer Chinese visited Malaysia in the wake of the incident. "However, we are seeing some recovery now," Mustapa told reporters at a networking session with all the agencies under MITI in collaboration with the Chinese New Year celebrations here Tuesday. He said his ministry was working on ways for the country to meet the target, including setting up a National Export Council, which would hold its first meeting this Friday to be chaired by the Prime Minister. He said a special organisation would be set up under the council with two meetings yearly between the two countries. "China is Malaysia's first trade partner. Therefore, whatever plans that we have for the country, we must have a specific strategy for China," Mustapa said. Earlier, a dialogue session was conducted between the minister and entrepreneurs' organisations to gather ideas in order to meet the target, which was first set in 2013. Among the ideas are a buy-back scheme whereby Chinese companies can invest here but are committed to buy back local products, and encouraging local entrepreneurs to promote more halal products in China besides commodities as well as electrical and electronics products. "With all these plans on track, we are able to achieve our target. MITI aims for 20 per cent growth in the bilateral trade per annum," he said. Last year, total trade between Malaysia and China stood at US$102 billion, with exports from China to Malaysia falling 4.8 per cent to RM92.35 billion while imports amounted to RM115.50 billion, up 8.7 per cent. In 2013, exports from China rose 9.3 per cent to RM97.04 billion while imports went up 15.7 per cent to RM106.26 billion. -- BERNAMA

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