Depth report

　　

The 14th Malaysia-China Business Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 17th, and the broad areas of cooperation between China and Malaysia won the attention of nearly 1,000 entrepreneurs attending the conference.

Recently, Malaysia's fresh fruit durian exports to China, "durian" has become one of the hot words of the conference. Sun Shuqiang, Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, told a durian story in her speech at the conference: When the head of the Malaysian agriculture department visited China in August this year, he witnessed and felt the scene of "Musang King" fresh fruit durian popular with Chinese consumers and its sales were very encouraging. Sun Shuqiang pointed out that in 2023, China's durian import market reached 7.82 billion US dollars, and the frozen durian imported from Malaysia in the same year was only 273 million US dollars, accounting for only 3.4%, and the China-Malaysia agricultural trade cooperation has huge space and promising prospects.

Malaysian Member of Parliament Khoo Pui Tong, who read the speech for Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Plantation and Raw Industry Chen Hongyu, also extended an invitation to Chinese entrepreneurs attending the meeting to experience Malaysian durian. In his speech, Tan also spoke for Malaysia's agricultural products such as palm oil. Agricultural commodities, mainly palm oil and related products, accounted for more than a tenth of Malaysia's total exports to China last year, he said. In the first eight months of this year, Malaysia's palm oil exports to China reached nearly 900,000 tonnes, a further increase from the same period last year. Chen Hongzhu said that with the deepening of Malaysia-China economic and trade cooperation, the Chinese market's demand for Malaysian palm oil and other agricultural products continues to grow, and China has become one of the main export markets of Malaysian agricultural products.

Malaysia's economically developed Selangor state by State Secretary Amiruddin, responsible for investment and trade and other affairs of the executive councillor Wong Sihan attended the conference and said that the state welcomes Chinese enterprises in many areas of investment. Amiruddin listed electrical and electronics, machinery, transportation, food and beverage, life sciences and artificial intelligence as several areas where Selangor is looking to attract investment. Huang Sihan introduced the investment environment provided by Selangor for investors, and he vigorously introduced the second integrated circuit design park in Selangor, which will be put into use soon, to "wave" Chinese enterprises for the development of the semiconductor industry in the state.

In addition to the cooperation between the two countries in the economic and trade field, Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry of Malaysia Lau Chin Tung, who attended the conference, pointed out that Malaysia and China should also strengthen dialogue and exchange of ideas between civilizations. Malaysian Transport Minister Luk Siu-fook, who attended the dinner on the 17th of the General Assembly, strongly promoted that Malaysia is rich in tourist destinations and has the convenience of visa-free travel between Malaysia and China, "Chinese tourists can easily reach Malaysia by buying a plane ticket." He hoped that in addition to economic and trade cooperation, cooperation in tourism and other fields can also promote contacts and exchanges between the people of Malaysia and China.

The Malaysia-China Business Conference is organised by the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce). The original name of the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce was "Malaysian Association of Chinese Commodity Importers and Exporters", and its name change and growth process also witnessed the process of increasing economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. The Malaysia-China General Chamber of Commerce President Lo Kwok-siong said at the conference that the Malaysia-China cooperation in many fields has ushered in "positive growth", and the Malaysia-China General Chamber of Commerce will continue to play a "bridge" role in it. He said that at this congress alone, the memorandum of cooperation signed by companies of the two countries is expected to involve more than 1.2 billion ringgit (about 4.3 ringgit per US $1).

Sun Shuqiang also said that some member companies of the Malaysia-China General Chamber of Commerce have been engaged in trade between the two countries 50 years ago, and "little by little, the foundation of trade between the two countries". Malaysia's recent active economic areas are also active areas of China-Malaysia economic and trade cooperation, "the mutual achievements of China-Malaysia economic and trade relations have provided strong impetus for each other's economic growth."