Tan: Be aggressive in tapping new markets
June 18, 2010, Friday
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah businessmen should be aggressive in expanding business prospects for home-grown brands and their products by exploring international markets.In making the call, Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan said moving towards export markets would be the answer to increased profitability.
He said the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), being the national trade promotion agency, could become a good partner to local businessmen who wanted to achieve better results.
“That’s why it’s crucial for Sabah-based companies to leverage on Matrade’s services, especially its ICT promotion platform such as MyExport which is a cost effective export enabler,” he said when addressing entrepreneurs and exporters.
Tan said Matrade was constantly working with relevant ministries and agencies in translating global business challenges into opportunities in trade and commerce.
Saying that only 289 Sabah companies were registered with Matrade as of June, he added that all companies in the state should register with Matrade in order to actively participate in Matrade’s promotional activities.
He said in April, Malaysia’s global trade increased 26.7 per cent to RM94.8 billion.
Exports increased 26.6 per cent to RM52 billion while imports rose 27 per cent to RM42.8 billion.
A trade surplus of RM9.2 billion was also recorded in April, making it the 150th consecutive month of surplus, since November 1997.
On the 10th Malaysia Plan, Tan said the government would provide export promotion incentives, improve international branding of leading exporters and build capacity to boost the expansion of Malaysian firms into the export market.
He said the government targeted to generate 200 internationally recognised Malaysian brands by 2015.
Speaking to reporters later, Tan said the Sabah government was making efforts to help local businessmen venture into the global market.
He also thanked Matrade for organising the programme aimed at updating local entrepreneurs and exporters on the agency’s upcoming events and programmes.
“This is an excellent opportunity for them to get direct information from Matrade and other agencies.
“Matrade also needs feedback to help map out business programmes for them in future,” he said. — Bernama
