Minister for Investment and Trade Martin Hamilton-Smith has met with executive committee members of the Malaysia Australia Business Council in Kuala Lumpur.

As part of his week-long South East Asia trade mission the Minister discussed the South Australian Government’s plans for a business delegation to Malaysia to be led by the Premier later this year, as well as South Australia’s in-country trade representation in Malaysia, and how this will potentially boost future economic relations.

Acting Minister for Investment and Trade Susan Close said Malaysia has one of the most sophisticated economies, advanced infrastructure networks and stable political environments in the region and its population is becoming increasingly wealthy and urbanised, creating a hub of globally connected consumers.

“Building on strong bilateral relationships, Australia and South Australia are well positioned to participate in Malaysia’s development through business and institutional involvement in areas such as infrastructure, food, healthcare, manufacturing, energy and agribusiness,” Ms Close said.

“There are also multiple opportunities across the education and training particularly in the food safety, defence, oil and gas and health sectors.”

“Dairy Australia has estimated Malaysia imported more than 38,000 tonnes of dairy products in 2011. Australia has the leading market share position in cheese, yoghurt and butter categories and through the Malaysia Australia Free Trade Agreement has increasing opportunities to supply liquid milk.

“Malaysia has a high per capita consumption of fish and seafood, eating about 50 kilograms a year since 2005. As the cost of fish and seafood increases, Malaysian consumers are increasingly purchasing frozen fish and seafood as substitutes for fresh supplies. Australia is a major supplier of gourmet shellfish sold in Malaysia, including live, frozen and canned abalone, frozen scallops, frozen prawns, oysters, mussels and crabs. Our premium products continue to be in high demand in the hospitality industry.

“Growth in trans-national education and training numbers is also expected to continue given the Malaysian Government’s plans to make the country a regional higher education hub.

Ms Close said increasing the State’s presence in South East Asia will help strengthen cultural and trade links with the region and was a key outcome of the recently launched South Australia-South East Asia Engagement Strategy.

“South East Asia is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, and there are exciting opportunities to build on our existing ties with the region and open up new links that will help benefit business in both jurisdictions.

“Our engagement strategy offers a detailed blueprint of how we can increase our presence in the region, conduct bilateral business missions and build stronger social, cultural and economic connections that benefit both our State and South East Asia. As part of the strategy, the State Government will increase its presence in Austrade’s offices in the region.

“The meeting with the Malaysia Australia Business Council executives presented a great opportunity to discuss South Australia’s proposed August 2015 business mission to Malaysia in detail and how we can work together to ensure our on-going relationship continues to be a mutually beneficial one.”

The Malaysia Australia Business Council was established in 1986 as a private non-profit organisation that provides a range of services to its members relating to businesses in Malaysia and Australia. It is a platform for discussion on developing commercial activities and promoting bilateral fraternity between Malaysia and Australia.

The South Australia – South East Asia Engagement Strategy can be found at www.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au/southeastasia