Govt to intensify development at Malaysia-Thailand border areas to spur trade: Mustapa

JELI: The government will intensify development at the Malaysia-Thailand border areas to encourage trade activities in those areas.
Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (pix) said to-date, development at the border areas was quite slow even though they had the potential for cross-border trade with Asean countries.
"We want to enhance further trade at the Malaysia-Thailand border areas so that there's active movement in cross-border export activities," he said to reporters after launching the Incubator programme for Asean Export Champions (IJEA programme) here, today.
Mustapa said the development at the border areas would also encourage micro entrepreneurs especially in Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis to market their products to neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, he said the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) was collaborating with the Malaysian Association of Asean Young Entrepreneurs (Maaye) to implement the IJEA programme to prepare micro entrepreneurs in the rural areas to expand their business to Asean countries.
He said besides product development, the entrepreneurs would be given exposure to the intricacies of export by bringing them to participate in various activities such as expositions and carnivals at the Asean level.
The Jeli Parliament entrepreneurial community was picked as the pioneer group for the IJEA programme due to the district's strategic location and the presence of active movement in cross-border export between Kelantan and Southern Thailand region.
A total of 700 micro entrepreneurs with the status of small and medium enterprises from the agriculture, livestock farming, manufacturing, retail, lifestyle and food sectors will be involved in the programme.
Matrade Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud said the entrepreneurial guidance programme covered pragmatic and practical training sessions through a knowledge delivery method that is easy-to-understand.
Among the topics are market intelligence, tariff information, non-trade barriers, branding, marketing, packaging and media relations. — Bernama