Malaysian Minister's Visit To Brussels Described As Highly Successful

By Manik Mehta BRUSSELS (Belgium), May 15 (Bernama) -- The just-concluded working visit of Mustapa Mohamed, the Malaysian Minister for International Trade and Industry, to Brussels is being described as highly successful by Malaysian officials in Germany and Belgium. At the Malaysian Embassy in Brussels, the minister met the European Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Maelstrom, members of the European Parliament, and other important Belgian political personalities. "The most tangible indicator of the hosts' interest in the visit was evident in the large turnout of high-ranking government officials, diplomats and leaders of Belgium's business community," observed the director of Malaysian Investment Development Authority's (MIDA) Frankfurt office, S. Sivasuriyamoorthy, whose jurisdiction also includes Belgium besides Germany. Sivasuriyamoorthy, who had coordinated Mustapa's visit, worked closely with the Malaysian Embassy in Brussels, headed by Malaysian ambassador Nafisah Mohamed. The visit was geared to pushing economic ties and also woo Belgian investors to Malaysia; Mustapa's interlocutors were, invariably, from trade, industry and business. The minister also held talks with the director general of the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency, Marc Bogaerts, as well as Ambassador Jehanne Roccas from the Belgian Foreign Affairs Ministry. Major exports from Malaysia to Belgium in 2014 included electrical and electronics products, processors and controllers, rubber products, textiles, clothing and footwear, chemicals and chemical products, and petroleum products. Major imports from Belgium in 2014 included chemicals and chemical products, machinery, appliances and parts, electrical and electronics products, processed food, and products and parts manufactured from metal. The highlight of the minister's visit was a roundtable meeting at the Malaysian Embassy, attracting a long line of prominent Belgian industrialists and business people. Over and above, Mustapa had a one-on-one meetings with Belgian investors. The agencies that participated in the roundtable meeting included Brussels Invest & Export, Walonia Trade and Investment Agency, and Flanders Investment and Trade. "There were top representatives from 25 leading Belgian companies including Lhoist, Oleon, Knauf Insulation, Solvay, Victor Bayek (steel construction) and Umicore," Sivasuriyamoorthy said. Mustapa highlighted the bilateral trade between the European Union and Malaysia, and spoke of the tremendous potential in the Belgian investment flow to Malaysia. Belgium's cumulative investment volume in Malaysia to date is about RM1.1 billion and is expected to increase. For example, leading Belgian company, Lhoist, is expanding its existing production facilities and is also setting up a regional office and a research and development centre in Malaysia. MIDA is making new investments which together with its existing investments will rise to US$300 million by the first quarter of 2016, according to Sivasuriyamoorthy, adding that he had been approached after Mustapa's roundtable meeting by some companies on the possibility of creating distribution centres in Malaysia. But some company representatives also raised the issue of non-tariff barriers in the ASEAN region which Malaysia as the chair of ASEAN this year is trying to address within the ASEAN context. Other company representatives enquired about the rising gas prices in Malaysia, resulting from the gradual withdrawal of subsidies which will eventually be actual market prices. Sivasuriyamoorthy described the mood at the roundtable meeting as "upbeat". "There was vibrant interest in Malaysia, as reflected in the discussions with the minister and also MIDA," he said. --BERNAMA