Explore New Market Opportunities, Federation Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Urges Members

By Kenny Teng Khoon Hock GEORGE TOWN (Penang, Malaysia), Feb 13 (Bernama) -- The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has urged its members to fully exploit the market opportunities arising from the various free trade and bilateral agreements signed by Malaysia amid the challenging global business environment. New FMM president Yong Poh Kon said manufacturing exports in the past few months had recorded a slowdown due to the uncertainty in Europe's economic scenario. "We face uncertain times given the looming developments in the global financial, economic and trading environments. "We encourage members to participate in FMM's business networking and business matching activities and trade missions," he said after attending the official opening of FMM's Penang office by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng here Monday. He said FMM is facilitating the participation of members in several international trade shows and fairs. "For 2012, FMM is organising several trade missions including to Thailand, Indonesia, India, China, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and the United States to help members explore new market opportunities," he said. Yong said Penang state (north Malaysia) will continue to be an important base for the continued growth and expansion of the manufacturing sector. He said the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) annual report places Penang as the leading state in attracting new investments, both in terms of number of approved projects and investment in 2010. "In terms of investment value, Penang registered the highest value at RM12.2 billion (US$4.03 billion) and for the January to November 2011 period, Penang attracted total investments worth RM6 billion (US$1.98 billion)," he said. He said the continued attractiveness of Penang as a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destination is a function not only of supportive national policies to promote manufacturing and FDIs and development infrastructure in the state. "A FMM survey on investor behaviour has indicated that the decision to invest is largely influenced among others by transparent and consistent policies and precedures, speedy approvals and implementation, zero tolerance for corruption, and having a safe and liveable environment," he said. (US$1 = RM3.02) -- BERNAMA