The National Export Council (NEC) has urged Malaysian contractors and service providers to increase the use of Malaysian products and services for their overseas projects to help accelerate the national exports, according to a Bernama report.
According to the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), to date, there are 54 projects owned by Malaysian companies or involved Malaysian establishments being built in 16 countries, worth some RM109.71 billion.
However, out of this, only 10 projects were using Malaysian products and services, with a total value of RM256.5 million, or 0.2 per cent of the project’s value.
“The projects are spread across Europe, Asean, South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, and range from mixed development, construction, structural steel works and fabrication, expressway to engineering services,” Matrade said in a statement issued in conjunction with the NEC’s second meeting.
A number of incentives through various initiatives had been introduced to push for the use of local content in overseas Maaysian projects. These include Matrade’s facilitative SME-Large Corporation Partnership Programme and other assistance programmes, which offer partial reimbursement of logistics cost for sending local products or equipment abroad.
The NEC also decided that investment incentives should be reviewed to discourage employment of foreign workers, while ensuring better returns to the Malaysian economy in terms of high-value-added exports, creation of high-income jobs and development of smaller Malaysian enterprises.
Malaysia is the world’s top 24th trading nation and the world’s top 23rd exporting nation. Malaysian products are currently exported to more than 200 countries worldwide and are sought after due to their high quality, compliance to international standards and product diversification ability, among many other factors. — Construction+ Online
