MGBF Meets Deputy Foreign Minister at Wisma Putra

Nordin Abdullah today paid a courtesy call on H.E. Senator A. Kohilan Pillay, Deputy Minister of Foriegn Affairs, at Wisma Putra in Putrajaya where the objectives of this year’s Malaysia Global Business Forum were discussed and Nordin presented the Senator with a framed Songket piece, woven by a single mother in Terengganu which was part of MGBF’s CSR Initiative in 2009.

Discussions between the Senator and MGBF representatives touched on the interest in MGBF as a platform for international business co-operation with Malaysia. MGBF pointed out the ongoing and increased need for involvement and engagement of Wisma Putra in this process.

Nordin told the Senator “We are targetting five feature countries with political and buisness delegations and additional business only delegations from between 20 – 30 countries.” The Senator was enthusastic about the efforts of MGBF in developing strong business linkages that will benefit Malaysia. The Senator commented that Wisma Putra will certainly be pleased to consider all methods of involvement that is within their scope and current directives, especially in light of the success of your last year’s event. MGBF staff were delighted to see that Wisma Putra had highlighted part of last years event in their foyer display.

“MGBF is targetted to ensure there is the right mix of political “door opening” and tangible business initiatives to drive trade and investment,” stated Nordin.

The Senator will be invited to this year’s Malaysia Global Business Forum which will be held in Kuching Sarawak in November, 2010, themed “High Growth Non-Traditional Markets”.

Sarajevo Business Forum - The Return Leg

The Sarajevo Business Forum saw the presentation of some 157 projects and the region’s leading political and business figures in attendance including H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, H. E. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and H.E. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, 5th Prime Minister and Senior Statesman of Malaysia. The current Chair of the Presidency H.E. Dr. Haris Silajdzic delivered the Keynote Address.

According to the organizer, Mr. Amer Bukvic, CEO of Bosna Bank International “the Sarajevo Business Forum represents a watershed event guaranteeing Bosnia and Herzegovina will become the vibrant and prosperous country and the zone of economic development, cooperation, peace and dialogue of civilizations rather than place of poverty, suspicion, conflict or clash of civilization” 
Mr. Bukvic called upon all investors, Bosnian and regional political and business leaders to commit to produce the most promising outcomes and summed up that “Sarajevo Business Forum will change course of economic history of Bosnia.”

Commenting on the Sarajevo Business Forum, which is a partner event of the Malaysia Global Business Forum - Bosnia, Managing Director, Nordin Abdullah stated, “I have always been positive about Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially for Malaysian Businesses Investors, The Sarajevo Business Forum is the first proactive business driven initiative that will lead to the economic self determination of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“I would like to personally congratulate Amer Bukvic and his team as they have done a great job by all accounts. We were happy to play our small part in the greater success of the Sarajevo Business Forum and indeed the on going development of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

All 157 projects that were presented at the 2-day International Investment Conference, ‘Sarajevo Business Forum’ on April 6 - 7 have been made available to the public via electronic web page http://www.sarajevobusinessforum.com/

Green Field Billions

What is a Green Field Billion? What is a Green Field Billion Worth?

A Green Field Billion is defined as a Billion Dollars, in this case Ringgit, that comes into a green field project. The concept is not too hard to understand, but it is catchy nonetheless. The real question is what is a Green Field Billion Worth? This question is not so easily answered.

The State of Sarawak, home of the Malaysia Global Business Forum, seems to know not only where to find Green Field Billions but also how to attract them to roost in the land of the Hornbills.

Investments in Sarawak reached RM15.2 Billion, in 2008, the most of any state in Malaysia. In the first half of 2009 Sarawak received investments of RM 7.8 Billion, twice as much as the next nearest state.

The value of Green Field Billions can be best understood in the context of the “Knock-on Effect”. The financial sector sees growth, political mileage is created, economic development improves the GDP, knowledge transfer increases human capital development and even the logistics sector moves as goods are ship here and there.

Most importantly the “Knock-on Effect, knocks on the door of the average man in the street who needs a good paying job to support his family. Recent research shows that for every 100 jobs in foreign owned manufacturing, this creates 100 additional service jobs and 10 further manufacturing jobs.

Government Policy does need to address the “development transition” this is the major challenge of major inflows of investment to local industry, local human capital needs to be ready to face the challenges.

Why not reward success? The Malaysian Federal Government should look at rewarding those states which perform better in attracting FDI’s to the country. Knowing full well that SME’s will need to take up much of the support work, it makes sense to create a dedicated fund that is for the development of SMEs linked to these FDI’s, as they will need to be in close proximity to the incoming investments, it will directly reward the states that do a better job at attracting FDI’s.

This will kick start the second level of development which comes with the domestic market sophistication.

So if you are still wondering what a “Green Field Billion” is worth, it is worth a lot.

This article was written by Nordin Abdullah, Managing Director, Glenreagh Sdn Bhd, Organisers of Malaysia Global Business Forum, http://www.glenreagh.net/

Malaysia Global Business Forum will be held in Kuching, Sarawak from 7 0 10th November, 2010. Our websitehttp://www.malaysiaglobalbusinessforum.com/ www.malaysiaglobalbusinessforum.com has recently been updated with information for delegates to this year’s event.

Why Sarawak?

I bet, the title above is the most popular question we get when we say that we are doing something in Sarawak. It's either that, or we get the 'Uhh??", or "Where again?" or the infamous look which says that the person doesn't know what or where is Sarawak.

Well, that's the beauty of Sarawak to be honest. With 'it' being hidden from the world, it can be resembled as a 'diamond' yet to be discovered. Sarawak, maybe lacking in terms of popularity, but it is one of the few states in Malaysia which has huge potential. It has abundant resources, and the massive support from the Sarawak State Government is always available to push anything here to succeed. In fact, we are very confident that Sarawak will soon e more than just a sparkling diamond in Malaysia.

MGBF Invites Perlis Business Delegates

Perlis maybe the smallest state in Malaysia (without considering the Federal Territories), but we feel that it is a state with huge potential. Its location adjacent to Thailand makes it an excellent entry point into Malaysia via land, and the fact that it is so close to Thailand also makes it indirectly enjoy a huge spill over of culture from the Land of Smiles.

Tourism and eco-tourism are new in Perlis, and these non-traditional markets could be the answer for Perlis to move towards becoming one of Malaysia’s most vibrant states in business. The way we see it, Perlis is like a hidden diamond rock which is yet to be polished into a beautiful, shinning rock which is always embedded onto wedding rings, and hence our solid reasoning on why Perlis stands to benefit enormously by participating in the MGBF.