On 18th April, 2018 the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC), Mr. Gunther Beissel paid a courtesy call on the High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr. Walubita Imakando. The purpose of the visit was to engage and explore potential areas of cooperation for mutual benefit.
The MITEC CEO informed the High Commissioner that MITEC was willing to cooperate with African missions in Malaysia individually as well as collectively and could in this regard be used as a platform for linking Africa’s private sector players with their counterparts in Malaysia through joint organization of trade and investment exhibitions. On its part, MITEC would offer exhibition facilities at discounted rates and would also be involved in seeking sponsorship for joint exhibitions and fairs.
The High Commissioner appreciated the courtesy visit and welcomed the proposal for exploring areas of cooperation with MITEC as trade and investment promotion was one of the key mandates for the mission. The High Commissioner further indicated that African missions in Malaysia were working on organizing the second Africa Malaysia Business Day, with the first one having been held in 2016. He stated that African missions were in the process of engaging Malaysian stakeholders such as the various chambers of commerce in order to ensure increased private sector participation in the event and that MITEC would be one of the potential partners the missions would seek to work with.
The two parties agreed to continue the engagement on refining the details of how the cooperation would be undertaken and to find a suitable platform on which the MITEC CEO could share his proposal with other members of the African Diplomatic Corps in Malaysia.