Matrade Transformation and Digital Trade section director Idzham Abdul Hamid (right) moderates a session at eNED@2021’s virtual programme.
KUCHING: Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) urges more small and medium enterprises to digitalise and export for survival.
Matrade recently hosted the eNational Export Day (eNED@2021) which highlights the importance of going digital and turning to exports to survive. The event, which was held virtually for three-days, saw close to 3,000 Malaysian enterprises gaining export knowledge and tools to compete in the global trade arena.
“We are encouraged to hear that Malaysian companies have greatly benefitted from the various assistance programmes hosted by Matrade. I urge companies to innovate, be flexible and get accustomed to transformation.
“Companies must be able to adapt to situational changes and adopt sustainable strategies to maintain relevancy in the global market,” said Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Deputy Minister, Datuk Lim Ban Hong.
“The pandemic has taught us a hard lesson, that agility and resilience are of utmost importance. Technology has become even more important and is a vital tool that we can bank on to expedite business recovery. eNED is a testament of our commitment in digitalisation of trade promotion and development activities.
“More needs to be done, so we already have lined up programmes to facilitate Malaysian companies’ exporting activities for the rest of the year,” said Matrade chief executive officer, Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz, during the wrap up session of the eNED@2021.
Dialogues between industry leaders and enterprises at the eNED@2021 also discussed on digitalisation and sustainable development, two important export agendas for Malaysia.
The session on digitalisation through adoption of e-commerce offered participants with practical ideas and tactics to optimise the use of e-commerce to accelerate speed to market products and services across borders.
The US-China trade conflict was another hot topic discussed at the eNED@2021.
The panellists shared about the opportunities arising from the conflict and how Malaysian companies should leverage on those opportunities to stay ahead of competitors.
Matrade’s Trade Commissioners based in key markets such as Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Australia deliberated on the topic of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement as a catalyst for growth.
Malaysian companies are advised to develop a good understanding of the RCEP provisions and trade requirements in order to reap its benefits. RCEP is the biggest trade bloc accounting for 30 per cent of the world’s GDP.
Matrade attributed the success of eNED@2021 and its ability to continue improving its services and facilities to the continuous support and feedback from participants and the business community, which in turn benefit the SMEs and exporters towards reviving and sustaining their exports in the longer term.
Following-up on the success of eNED@2021, a series of dedicated programmes are scheduled to be carried out to further boost export penetration rates among local enterprises.
Matrade will tap on its synergy with technology partner, Google Malaysia, and prominent player in Islamic finance, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (BIMB), in the areas of digitalisation and financing respectively to accelerate exports.
Malaysian companies are encouraged to register as Matrade members to pursue their export journey to the next level with ongoing export enrichment programmes comprising webinars, training, customised export nurturing initiatives and business matching programmes.