Following Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade & Industry (MITI), YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali’s mission to to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the major importers of Malaysia’s palm oil in KSA, Savola Group has expressed their commitment to increase their sourcing of palm oil from Malaysia.
The Group aims to make KSA as their distribution hub for other parts of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets.
Savola is also one of the largest grocery store chains in Saudi Arabia and had just launched e-Commerce marketplace called Pandaclick last year, which contributed to the booming e-commerce sector in Saudi Arabia.
To further facilitate the strong interest shown by Savola Group, MATRADE extended an invitation to them to visit Malaysia, particularly during the Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) to be held on September 9 – 12.
The focus sectors of the mission included healthcare services, facility management, medical devices, furniture, palm oil, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and lifestyle products.
MATRADE also committed to organise a special sourcing programme for Savola Group.
Furthermore, Makkah Healthcare Cluster (MHC), an administrator of a medical city, 9 Public Hospitals and 82 Public Health Centres in the City of Makkah is keen to explore the possibilities to work closely with Malaysian healthcare provider or hospital operator to jointly develop the Makkah Healthcare Cardiac Institute, Makkah Healthcare Oncology Institute as well as a nursing school in Makkah.
They also plan to work with Malaysian suppliers of medical products and services for their facilities.
Additionally, UEM Edgenta Bhd, a subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, and ASMA Advanced Solutions LLC, a Saudi company specializing in water systems management has signed a Memorandum of Business Exploration (MOBE).
The MOBE indicated the intention of UEM to seriously position the company to capture healthcare support services and integrated facility management markets in KSA.
In UAE, meetings with retail conglomerates Landmark Group and Lulu Group which resulted in commitment from both companies to increase their sourcingand broadening the range of products from Malaysia.
Both companies are also planning to use Malaysia as their sourcing and distribution hub in ASEAN.
MATRADE will organise specialised sourcing programmes for the companies targeting dedicated sectors including lifestyle, premium quality furniture and high-tech household products and appliances and fast-moving consumer goods.
