Guangdong Team to Visit ECER

By: iStockAnalyst Wednesday, September 10, 2008 9:54 PM
(Source: New Straits Times)By Hamisah Hamid
A CHINESE trade delegation comprising high-level government officials and over 500 entrepreneurs
will visit the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) next week to seek business opportunities.
During the visit, the ECER Development Council will brief the delegation from Guangdong province on
trade and investment opportunities in East Coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and
Mersing in Johor.
The briefing is one of the initiatives by the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry
Malaysia in conjunction with the 2008 China (Guangdong)-Malaysia Business Conference to be held
tomorrow.
According to the ECER secretariat, the conference seeks to attract Guangdong businesses to venture
and invest in Malaysia.
During the conference, the ECER Development Council management will have a face-to-face
discussion with the Chinese delegation as well as participate in business matching sessions.
The ECER initiative spans over five main industry clusters – manufacturing, oil and gas and
petrochemical, agriculture, tourism and education.
Overseas investment by Chinese companies amounted to US$25.7 billion (RM89 billion) in the first
half of this year. Last year, they invested US$18.7 billion (RM65 billion) , a rise of 6.3 per cent from
2006.
The Chinese government is aggressively encouraging its domestic companies to go abroad to secure
raw material supplies to feed the country’s fast-growing economy.
Overseas expenditure also helps reduce the excess liquidity in the country’s financial system from
trade, foreign direct investment and inflow of money from investors betting on gains in the yuan.
As at June 30, China’s foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest, rose 36 per cent to US$1.81
trillion (RM6.26 trillion), from the same period last year.