MINISTER HEADS TRADE AND INVESTMENT MISISION IN LONDON

LONDON, April 27 (Bernama) -- Mustapa Mohamed led his first trade and
investment mission as the Minister of International Trade and Industry, with an
appearance on the London leg, of an ongoing visit to three cities in Europe.

"I am the new kid in the block," he said, amid laughter from over 100
Malaysian students in the United Kingdom (UK), at a meeting on Sunday.

He said his job was not easy as there were a lot of challenges ahead in the
face of the economic downturn that had adversely affected the world and
Malaysia.

However, he said the problem was manageable and economic recovery is the
priority of the Malaysian government under the leadership of the new Prime
Minister Najib Razak.

London is the last leg of the Trade and Investment Mission to Europe
organised by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authory (MIDA) and the
Malaysia External Trade Corporation (MATRADE).

The last trade and investment mission to London was in 2007. The
Malaysian delegation will head home on Tuesday.

This year, a total of 10 trade mission have been scheduled to attract trade
and investment.This is in addition to the planned 25 specific project missions
targeting smaller groups of investors.

Mustapa was unable to personally lead the trade and investment mission to
Frankfurt(Germany) and Milan (Italy), earlier due to commitments in Malaysia.

In London, apart from UK businessmen, Mustapa also met with Malaysian
government officials, professionals and students.

In conjunction with the mission, he delivered a keynote address at the
Seminar on Trade and Investment Opportunities in Malaysia, held on Monday
morning.

He also delivered a speech at the Malaysia-UK Partnership Dialogue
Programme.

As of December 2008, 355 projects by UK investors were approved
and implemented in Malaysia with a total investment of US$1.22 billion.

Malaysia's exports to the UK last year fell 4.2 percent to US$2.846 billion
while imports grew 8.6 percent to US$2.296 billion.

There is still strong interest in Malaysia among European investors as the
seminar on business opportunities in Frankfurt and Milan attracted almost 400
participants.
-- BERNAMA