In the third leg of the trade and mission to the United States (US), International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darell Leiking met with key companies around Seattle. Darell met with Microsoft Corporation which further cemented stronger partnership between MIMOS, an agency under MITI and Microsoft through the establishment of “Centre of Artificial Intelligence for Future Industry (CAIFI)”.
The Centre complements with Malaysia’s National Policy on Industry 4.0. A separate joint media release was issued by MIMOS and Microsoft. In a networking event with the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance, Darell also met with 18 key players which include Fortune 500 companies in the aerospace industry. Separately, Darell also met with a cloud computing partner in exploring future opportunities for collaboration.
Before that in New York, Darell was interviewed by Bloomberg Television’s Daybreak Asia and CNN’s Quest Means Business. In addition, Darell also had editorial meetings with the New York Times’ Chief Executive Officer and Wall Street Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, which touched on various issues including trade between Malaysia and the US, global economic situation and Malaysia’s view on US-China trade friction.
Separately, Darell also continued his engagements with key companies based in the US and Canada which are in the theme park, aviation and financial services sectors.
In 2018, the US remained as Malaysia’s top trading nation in North America region and Malaysia’s third largest trading partner in the world at RM155.68 billion (USD38.57 billion, 8.3% share of Malaysia’s total trade).
In term of implemented projects, the US remains as the second largest investors in Malaysia in sectors such as electric and electronics, medical devices, renewable energy and aerospace valued at RM74.01 billion (USD21.86 billion). Malaysian companies have successfully ventured in the US in diverse sectors from entertainment and resort, oleo-chemical, industrial packaging, furniture to banking reaching over USD14 billion.
