MATRADE TARGETS MAJOR PROJECTS IN MIDDLE EAST

By Christine Lim May Yu

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia External Trade Development
Corp (Matrade), the national trade promotion agency, is targeting major projects
in the Middle East for its Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE) 2009 in Dubai.

Chief executive officer, Noharuddin Nordin, said the event on March
17-19 at the Dubai Airport Exhibition Centre would provide the platform for
Malaysian companies in the services industry to gain a stronger foothold in the
Middle East.

"The Middle East is the biggest market for the services sector. Even with
the economic downturn, projects are still given as many oil-producing countries
are there.

"With the oil revenue and steady economic growth, these countries are also
able to afford the best in the services industry," Noharuddin told Bernama in an
interview.

Noharuddin said among the mega-projects in Middle East which were on-going
or in planning stages were the US$1.914 billion (US$1=RM3.69) Diyar Al Muharraq
urban development project in Bahrain, the US$13.2 billion beach resort project
in Al Madina Al Zarqa (Blue City) development in Oman, the US$3 billion Qatar
Railway network project and King Abdullah Economic City project worth US$92.912
billion comprising an integrated city in Saudi Arabia.

He said to further boost its promotional activities in the Middle East and
for mutually-beneficial marketing arrangement in the Asian region, Matrade would
be signing a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai Export Development
Council during the event in Dubai.

Noharuddin said 202 Malaysian companies from 13 industry clusters would
showcase their strength and expertise at MSE 2009.

"This is an increase from last year's 168. This shows that Malaysian
services providers are still looking for opportunities overseas despite the
current economic situation," he said.

He said while the participation of the construction and engineering sectors
was still strong this year, it was much well-spread among oil and gas, financial
services, professional services franchise and information technology services
sectors.

Noharuddin said there would be an exchange of joint venture agreement
between Malaysian-based e-business company, Skali Alam Teknokrat Sdn Bhd and
Tuwaiq Group Commercial, Riyadh during the exhibition.

He said the MSE 2009 would one of the biggest state-of-the-art exhibitions,
focussing on services sector on a large scale.

"The total space for this year is 11,654 sq metres compare to 8,000 sq
metres last year," he said.

Noharuddin said Dubai was chosen as the venue this year because Matrade
planned to gain a wider exposure in the Middle East market and to make it the
gateway to the Gulf region for the services industry.

Last year, the event was held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

"We are going to hit the Middle East market through our aggressive
promotions. Our promotion activities are more intense this year, as we use
various forms of promotion which include billboards in selected locations in
Dubai as well as Matrade's offices in the Middle East region, newspapers and TV
advertisements," he said.

He said Matrade would increase its advertising and promotion budget to RM2
million this year from RM1.2 million last year.

"Through the various promotional activities that we embarked for last year's
event, a total of RM39 billion projects were identified," he said.

Noharuddin said this year exhibition was important for Malaysia's branding
in the services sector.

"We have also included sophisticated and artistic architecture in the
exhibition booths and space as this will capture a lot of interest especially in
the city of Dubai which is famous for its iconic and breath-taking buildings,"
he said.

Corporate leaders from Malaysia would also be invited to deliver talks and
seminar on construction, oil and gas and healthcare in Malaysia, he said.

Noharuddin was confident that Malaysia's good relations with countries in
the Middle East and the past achievements of many Malaysian companies in this
region would reinforce Malaysia's strong branding in the region.

He said among the Malaysian companies that had successfully penetrate the
Middle East were Eversendai Engineering Corp Group (Malaysian steel construction
specialist), WCT Engineering Bhd and Garmuda Bhd.

He said to date, Matrade has managed to attract visitors to this year event
from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar and even as far as India and
Italy.

-- BERNAMA