Depth report

　　

On the morning of September 13, 2022, the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, Malaysia Foreign Trade Development Council, China-Asean Expo Secretariat and China Construction Bank held a grand online opening ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Nanning, Guangxi, China. This is the first cross-border cooperation meeting between Chinese and Malaysian companies in 2022, jointly hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia and Malaysian government agencies and Chinese banks.

Mr. Ouyang Yujing, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, Mr. Lin Wanfeng, Vice Minister of Trade and Industry of Malaysia, Mr. Huang Shiyong, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, Mr. Cui Yong, Vice President of China Construction Bank, and Mr. Mustarfa, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Foreign Trade Development Board attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

In his speech, Ouyang Yujing said that under the background of China-Asean friendly exchanges, China-Malaysia relations have achieved leap-forward development. In particular, since the Regional Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (RCEP) came into force, bilateral economic and trade cooperation has been further deepened and developed. Our cooperation in industrial parks, infrastructure, equipment manufacturing, information and communications and digital economy has bucked the trend and yielded fruitful results. As an important platform for economic and trade promotion and multi-field cooperation between China and ASEAN, the China-Asean Expo has played a positive role in promoting in-depth exchanges and cooperation between China and Malaysia. China will continue to work with Malaysia to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, expand cooperation in digital economy, cyber security, artificial intelligence, big data and modern agriculture, make good use of existing economic and trade cooperation mechanisms and platforms, and enhance practical cooperation in various fields.

Malaysian Vice Minister of Trade and Industry Lin Wanfeng said that bilateral trade and economy have entered the best stage in history, and the implementation of RCEP will create a more transparent, specific and law-compliant framework for trade and investment between the signatory countries, as well as provide a strategic platform for business cooperation. It is hoped that Chinese entrepreneurs will take advantage of Malaysia's favorable business and investment environment to strengthen the regional business network and jointly lift the close trade partnership between Malaysia and China to a higher level.

Huang Shiyong, Vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the construction of the "two countries and two parks" between China and Malaysia. The economic and trade cooperation between China and Malaysia has ushered in new opportunities, and the economic and trade cooperation between Guangxi and Malaysia will also bear new fruits. It is suggested to expand the scale of trade and investment between Guangxi and Malaysia. Vigorously promote the upgrading and development of the China-Malaysia "Two Countries and Two Parks"; Jointly build new land-sea corridors at a high level. Cui Yong, vice president of CCB head office, said the bank is willing to continue to leverage its advantages in fintech and global service capabilities, and work with the Chinese and Malaysian governments and enterprises to contribute more to the high-quality development of China-Malaysia economic and trade cooperation. Malaysia Foreign Trade Development Board Chief Executive Officer Datuk Musdharfa believes that digitization has become one of the important factors for enterprises to stand out in the global competition. He hopes that more Malaysian enterprises will make good use of the innovative digital platform to connect with Chinese entrepreneurs.

Holding this meeting is an important measure to share new opportunities of RCEP and boost China-Malaysia economic and trade cooperation. Some companies signed agreements on trade in goods and services, including green steel, clean energy, green agriculture and healthy food, with a total value of 1.295 billion U.S. dollars. CCB, together with 37 institutions in China, recommended more than 266 high-quality Chinese enterprises to match with 66 Malaysian enterprises for the docking activity. The docking will be conducted through 400 video conferences, covering a variety of commodities such as food and beverage, healthcare, household daily chemicals, palm oil, building materials, machinery, mineral products and bulk commodities.