MATRADE Eyes Sales Of US$3.73 Million From Multimedia Content Business Matching Programme

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) is eyeing sales of US$3.73 million (RM15 million) from a two-day creative and multimedia content (CMC) business matching programme starting Thursday. Electrical and Electronics & Information Communication Technology Unit Director Abu Bakar Koyakutty said the sales would be generated from areas such as 3D animation, film and television, video games and mobile content from 19 international companies. "Malaysian animation films, such as Upin and Ipin, as well as the BoBoiboy cartoon have been well received by Indonesians," he said. He added that currently, industry players from China, Japan and the Middle East, noteably Turkey, have also expressed an interest in cooperating with Malaysian companies. Abu Bakar said this at a press conference on the business matching programme, the International Sourcing Programme on CMC, here Thursday. Organised by Matrade, the national trade promotion agency, it will see more than 200 business-to-business meetings between nearly 100 Malaysian companies and industry players from Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Turkey, South Africa, India and South Korea. Meanwhile, Matrade Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Susila Devi said the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) had targetted to increase the gross national income (GNI) contribution from CMC to US$14.43 billion (RM58 billion) by 2020, up from US$8.95 billion (RM36 billion) in 2009. "This is possible, provided we have high quality content and new ideas," she added. In her opening speech earlier, Susila said that Malaysia is an attractive place for content development, as there is an abundance of English speaking creative multi-racial talent pool, strong government support, state of the art studio infrastructures, as well as a relatively affordable venue for the world class studio operations. --BERNAMA