In a bilateral meeting with His Excellency Franck Riester, the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Dato Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali emphasised Malaysia’s commitment in pursuing the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda through the recently unveiled Twelfth MalaysiaPlan (12MP) and National Investment Aspirations (NIA).
The session with his counterpart in Paris started the Trade and Investment Mission (TIM) to France from 15th to 17th October 2021. During the meeting, Azmin highlighted opportunities in Malaysia’s growing green technology sector and Malaysian industry players’ capabilities in this high-value sector.
The Senior Minister underscored Malaysia’s firm commitment to support an ecosystem built on the sustainable agenda and shared that Malaysia aims to achieve carbon net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the earliest by 2050.
Both Ministers discussed topics of mutual interest ranging from economic recovery strategies in the endemic phase, advancing reforms at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), leveraging Malaysia’s position in the mega Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement to investment and commercial opportunities in renewable energy.
The Malaysian delegation also commended France’s renewed interest in the South East Asian region, including Malaysia, and saw this new development as a pathway to further strengthen the ties between both nations. France’s growing interest in this region was greatly welcomed as France is set to assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2022.
The Senior Minister held a Roundtable Meeting with Mouvement des Enterprises de France (MEDEF) International which saw the participation of 17 prominent companies including industry captains for aerospace, defence, transportation, chemical & chemical industry, machinery & equipment, Information Technology, inspection & certification and banking sectors.
The key takeaway was the reassurances by the Senior Minister that Malaysia will continue to be a strategic business partner with clear and predictable policies, and the Government remains steadfast in further developing the industrial ecosystems in Malaysia.
Azmin also witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Malaysian Investment Development Authority and MEDEF International. The strategic partnership between MIDA and MEDEF International will complement Malaysia’s NIA through expanded cooperation aiming to facilitate the nation’s industrial ecosystem with the catalytic infrastructure and new technologies.
The Malaysian delegation also had a series of one-to-one sessions with French companies notably Airbus, Saint-Gobain, Adisseo Group, Prolaser and Innovafeed, where the delegation expressed a strong interest to strengthen the footprints of Malaysian products in Europe through France.
During these sessions, the French enterprises showed great interest to continue making Malaysia their business partner in the aerospace, biotechnology, advanced chemical, medical devices, halal products and the construction sectors. Malaysia’s strong focus on the green agenda in charting the country’s economic development also provided the French businesses assurance that Malaysia is moving in tandem with world megatrends.
The TIM to France generated a total of RM2.6 billion potential investment and RM300 million worth of potential exports, enhancing the participation of local companies in the high-value global supply chain.
