M'SIA TARGETS RM50 BLN INCREASE IN EXPORT NEXT YEAR

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), Oct 20 (Bernama) -- With strategic measures being lined up by the government to face the possibility of a global economic downturn, Malaysia is targeting a RM50 billion increase in total exports to reach almost RM700 billion next year.

International Trade and Industry Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said
among the measures were aggressive promotions on Malaysian products to new
markets while not only relying on the United States and European countries whose
demands for imports had been declining.

"We will put our target on Asean, China, Japan, Korea and new countries
such as those in the Middle East or Africa.

"Our objective is to ensure the decline in imports (by other countries), if
any, would not affect our export value for 2009," he told reporters at an
Aidilfitri do, here Sunday.

The minister said, for this year, Malaysia was still aiming to have a
positive import value at over RM600 billion.

Malaysia's imports last year were valued at RM605.1 billion, a 2.7 per
cent
increase from the previous year.

Muhyiddin said the ministry was looking closely to see if the global
financial crisis would affect the economy in the countries which imported
Malaysian products and also to see whether the crisis affected the demands for
the products.

"That's why we are taking measures to have close relationships with the
organisations that represent businessmen, chambers of commerce as well as export
associations to get their feedback and suggestions on what should be done if
there was a declining trend in their exports.

"With the strategies in place, I think we can maintain our position next
year, but we need to be more focus in our target and monitor the situation more
frequently, not just annually, but monthly," he said.

-- BERNAMA