Malaysian, Chilean Firms Set To Explore Business Opportunities
By The Halal Journal Newsdesk (Source: Bernama) published 6 months ago
Original Article Source: Bernama
Filed Under: Trade & Investment
By Dalila Abu Bakar
Malaysian and Chilean firms are set to cooperate and explore opportunities in the seafood, fruits, dried fruits, olive oil, wine, malt, gourmet and Halal product sectors, said the country's Ambassador to Malaysia, Christian Rehren.
Rehren said the recent business matching session, organised under the "Flavours of Chile" event, had received excellent response.
According to him, about 20 Malaysian companies and 11 Chilean firms attended the session, which allowed them to explore business opportunities in both countries.
The business matching session saw one-on-one pre-arranged meetings between the Chilean firms and Malaysian businesses.
"They explored and have made plans. Some companies have achieved favourable outcomes from the session. Feedback from the Chilean firms is excellent. Things are on the right track.
"The Flavours of Chile programme (in Malaysia) has achieved its objectives," Rehren told Bernama.
He also said that 55 wine importers and distributors from Malaysia had attended the wine tasting session, which was part of the "Flavours of Chile" event.
"With the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), expected to come into effect early next year, more Chilean products, including wine, will be in the Malaysian market," he added.
The two-day "Flavours of Chile" event was hosted by the Chilean Export Promotion Bureau and the Chilean embassy in Kuala Lumpur to establish and expand business relations with Malaysian companies.
The programme included business seminars and networking initiatives, business matching sessions and visits to outlets and business premises in Malaysia.
Under the Malaysia-Chile FTA, signed last year and currently confined to trade in goods, 96.5 per cent of bilateral trade will be tariff-free.
It is also Malaysia's first bilateral FTA with a Latin American country.
For Malaysia, the FTA is an opportunity to use Chile as a hub. Chile has 21 agreements with 58 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and the European Union (EU), which gives it preferential access to a worldwide market of more than 4.1 billion people.