M'SIA SHOULD TAP BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG INDUSTRY - STATE MINISTER PRESIDENT

By Manik Mehta

HANNOVER, April 14 (Bernama) -- Stefan Mappus, the minister president of
Baden-Wuerttemberg in South Germany, says Malaysia is on its way to becoming a
hi-tech country and should form collaboration with industries from his state.

The industry of Baden-Wuerttemberg, known for its strong industrial base
formed by small and medium-sized companies, could make an excellent and lasting
contribution to Malaysia’s development, he said.

Mappus, who visited the huge pavilion of his state at the recent Hannover
Industrial Fair which also had 16 Malaysian exhibitors, cited the automobile
industry and the machine-building industries as potential areas of such
cooperation.

Last November, he led a business delegation from Baden-Wuerttemberg to three
Asean countries and discussed the automobile and solar energy industries in his
talks with Prime Minister Najib Razak while in Malaysia.

Mappus said economy and science were important for building strong bridges
between Baden-Wuerttemberg and Southeast Asia.

"For the enterprises of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the states of Southeast Asia are
inherent with big market opportunities.

"Conversely, Baden-Wuerttemberg, as Europe’s number one innovation region,
is a highly interesting venue for skilled experts and companies from Southeast
Asia," he said.

He said that to promote the exchange of training of managerial personnel in
each other’s cultural circle, a number of agreements were signed during his
delegation's visit.

In Malaysia, a cooperation agreement was signed between Baden-Wuerttemberg’s
Science, Research and Art Ministry and Universiti Technologi Malaysia.

"The existing agreement of higher education of 50 student candidates each
year from Malaysia at universities for applied sciences of the state of
Baden-Wuerttemberg with a bachelor degree was also extended," Mappus said.

In Singapore, the Dual Polytechnic of Baden-Wuerttemberg signed a memorandum
of understanding with the Raffles Education Corporation Singapore on cooperation
while in Vietnam, a cooperation agreement in water research was signed between
the Water Resources University in Hanoi and the Karlsruhe Institute for
Technology, focusing on innovative projects on production of energy from water.

Mappus told Bernama that promoting economic ties with Asean and also
cooperation in education and culture was of special significance for
Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Often referred to as "Germany’s cradle of high technology",
Baden-Wuerttemberg is home to a number of prominent German corporate players
such as Mercedes-Benz and Robert Bosch.

Besides Malaysia, the Baden-Wuerttemberg industry is also taking
considerable interest in Vietnam because of its low-cost manufacturing.

A Baden-Wuerttemberg SME called Pepperl + Fuchs GmbH, headquartered in
Mannheim, has set up a plant in Ho-Chi-Minh City. The company produces
sonography sensors and other sensitive parts for elevators.

It will have some 700,000 components for all kinds of plants and automated
machines produced at its Vietnam plant. This volume is expected to rise to one
million in 2011.

Baden-Wuerttemberg’s foreign trade with Asean has been surging. From
January to July 2010, the state’s exports to the entire region increased by
32.5 per cent while imports increased by nearly 32 per cent.