KUALA LUMPUR: The Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) has secured RM8.33 billion worth of potential exports during its trade and investment mission to Thailand from Aug 15-16, 2024.
MITI Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, who led the mission, said Malaysia and Thailand have enjoyed mutually beneficial bilateral ties over many decades.
“We look forward to facilitating these latest sourcing commitments from the Thai companies, including in the halal sector which holds a lot of untapped potential for both countries,” he said in a statement today.
During the mission, MITI shared with the companies some plans on Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025, aimed at promoting regional economic cooperation by facilitating smoother trade and investment flows to enhance regional growth.
Tengku Zafrul encouraged the Thai industry players to be involved in private sector-led events surrounding official ASEAN meetings in 2025.
“As Malaysia gears up to be the chair of ASEAN in 2025, we need to highlight the crucial need for both the public and private sectors to work together in advancing regional integration and form strategic collaborations, particularly in addressing the megatrends impacting the region, including geopolitics, regional security, digitalisation and climate change,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) organised a roundtable meeting with top officials from 12 prominent Thai companies and one-to-one meetings with five leading Thai companies to facilitate trade opportunities between both nations.
MITI said that collectively, the Thai companies generate annual revenue of more than RM545 billion and represent a wide range of high-value industries, including oil and gas, electrical and electronics (E&E), automotive parts and components, chemicals, and fast-moving consumer goods.
Among the potential products the companies intended to import from Malaysia are liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude petroleum, chemical solvents, bitumen, automotive parts, fertilisers, polymer resins, and electronic components.
At the official level, Tengku Zafrul, as well as senior officials from MITI, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority and MATRADE had earlier met officials from Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce for the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting in Malaysia on July 4, 2024.
During the JTC, both countries had agreed to establish a task force related to trade and investment to focus on, among others, trade facilitation, cross-border connectivity and cooperation in various fields including the halal sector to achieve the trade target of US$30 billion (US$1=RM4.43) by 2027.
In 2023, Malaysia’s total trade with Thailand stood at RM113.37 billion.
Within ASEAN, Malaysia is Thailand’s largest trading partner, largest export destination, and largest source of imports.
Major exports to Thailand comprised E&E products, crude petroleum, chemicals and chemical products, LNG, and manufactures of metal.
