Jafza-Malaysia trade grew 29% in last decade

The bilateral trade between Jafza and Malaysia saw an average yearly growth of 29 per cent in the last 10 years. In 2010 the bilateral trade witnessed a sharp increase of 52 per cent to reach Dh6.5 billion. Jafza trade with Asean during the same period saw a yearly growth of more than 26 per cent to reach Dh16.44 billion.

The impressive growth in bilateral trade numbers was highlighted by Ibrahim Aljanahi, Deputy CEO of Jafza at the recently held Jafza Investor Seminar held at the Malaysia International Halal 2012 Showcase (MIHAS) in Malaysia. MIHAS is one of the leading industry events on food and non-food Halal products in the world.

The seminar was a major success. It attracted more than 100 investors from the South East Asia region along with the region’s leading representatives from print and visual media. The attendees included Nasser Salman Al Aboodi, UAE Ambassador in Malaysia, Mr. Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia, MIHAS CEO Mohammed Shukri Abdullah and senior Jafza officials including Ibrahim Aljanahi, Deputy CEO of Jafza, Adil Al Zarooni, Senior Vice President, Khalid Al Marzooqi, Regional Manager Asia Pacific and Wan Hafiqah, Dy. CEO of Nexus Group, Jafza Representative in Malaysia.

Addressing the seminar Ibrahim Aljanahi underlined the strong commercial relations between Malaysia and the UAE.

He said: “UAE is Malaysia’s largest trade partner in the Middle East. The UAE-Malaysia trade in 2010 stood at approximately Dh15 billion. Jafza accounts for almost half (44 per cent) of this trade. Jafza-Malaysia trade has seen a growth of 29 per cent year-on-year for the last ten years. Jafza’s trade with Asean in 2010 amounted to Dh16.5 billion, which represented a growth of 26 per cent year-on-year during the same period.

“We wish to leverage our strong relationship with Asean in general and Malaysia in particular to attract regional investors into Jafza and the Middle East.” Jafza is currently home to 93 companies from Asean.

Ibrahim Aljanahi commenting on the strong investor interest in the free zone said: “South East Asia is one of the top exporting regions in the world. The Middle East markets offer huge opportunities for South East Asia businesses. Our participation, that highlighted the opportunities and the prospects in the region and our strategic position as a business hub to reach these markets, has triggered their interest further.”

Dato Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia speaking on the occasion lauded strong bilateral relations between the two countries and Malaysia and Jafza.

Ibrahim Aljanahi at the seminar announced Jafza plan to set-up an incubation centre in the free zone to encourage Small and Medium Enterprises from Malaysia and other countries from the region to set up their operations with minimum investment in Jafza to explore business opportunities in the region.

The seminar was a huge success and evoked strong interest among the investors from the region not only in the food but other sectors as well.

The Investment Seminar was part of Jafza’s high level participation at the MIHAS. Jafza showcased its multiple value-added business-friendly suites of offerings for the first time at this leading industry event. A large number of business visitors that included manufacturers and suppliers of products, technologies and equipment of food and non-food halal products from the region visited Jafza booth at the event and showed their keen interest in setting-up their businesses in Jafza to expand their operations into the region.

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