The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) together with CIMB Group held a networking lunch with key personnel from leading foreign multinationals and chambers of commerce, and local businesses. The networking lunch was held at TPC Kuala Lumpur, where the prestigious CIMB Classic 2017 – the only PGA TOUR-sanctioned golf tournament in Southeast Asia – is currently being held until 15 October 2017.
The lunch was graced by YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade & Industry, who discussed opportunities and addressed challenges of doing business in Malaysia with the 38 businesses and chambers’ representatives who attended the lunch.
Dato’ Sri Mustapa said, “Public and private sector collaborations are important for us to achieve our objectives and bring ourselves forward. We seek to work together to ensure a more sustainable and progressive development of the industries in Malaysia, as we continue to position the country as the best place to invest. Just as CIMB aims to raise the profile of Malaysian golfers through such events, MITI and MIDA together with the other agencies are working hard at growing local industry players to become global champions. Their strong presence in ASEAN is an important enabler for investments in the ASEAN ecosystem and will go a long way in supporting Malaysian companies to venture out. We want Malaysia to be your gateway into the region, providing companies with immediate access to a wide and dynamic market.”
Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group, who was also present at the lunch, said, “We are pleased to co-host this networking event together with MIDA at our CIMB Classic premises. As a leading ASEAN universal bank, we have always worked closely with the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade & Industry, MIDA and other trade and investment promotional bodies to increase intra-ASEAN trade by fostering closer relationships and better networking opportunities among the business community, government agencies and the chambers of commerce based not only in Malaysia, but also in other markets in ASEAN.”
Malaysia has been ranked 25th out of 138 economies by the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, issued by the World Economic Forum. This has placed the country among the world’s top 20% of the most competitive economies, and the highest ranked among developing Asian countries. This year, it has also been crowned the third “Best Country to Start a Business” in a global ranking by BAV Consulting and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
