Abundant Business Opportunities in Aceh, Indonesia, Says Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | April 27, 2009 by D-8 Secretariat

With close to five million Muslim population, Aceh's halal industry offers tremendous opportunity for D-8 enterprenuers to market their products in this sector.

There are abundant business opportunities for Malaysian companies in Aceh, Indonesia, as it is in the midst of economic recovery following the tsunami, the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM) vice-president, Datuk Faudzi Naim Noh said.

“The economy there is growing. After the tsunami, there are even more businesses being undertaken, compared to before. The registration of cars alone has reached 5,000 annually,” Faudzi told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

He said although most of Acheh’s development was destroyed by the tsunami three years ago, the people have now successfully rebuilt industries.

“There is a strong demand for Malaysian products there. A lot of their products are imported, including from Malaysia.

“Even chicken eggs are imported with the figure coming close to 10 million daily,” he added.

He said opportunities exist in areas such as halal food, consumer products, building materials and tourism.

According to Faudzi, with a five million Muslim population, Aceh’s halal industry offers tremendous opportunity for local enterprenuers to market their products in this sector.

He disclosed that the MCCM is taking a delegation of about 100 local businessmen to Aceh to stage a five-day exhibition there in the quest for potential business opportunities.

The “Malaysian Exhibition and Investment Mission Aceh 2009″ from April 29-May 3, will see 50 booths showcasing Malaysian products.

Among the products are those for agriculture, education, tourism as well as food and beverage.

“We expect these companies to secure business worth at least RM100,000 each. At last year’s exhibtion, 16 companies raked in business to the value of RM3.2 million,” Faudzi said.

Malaysia and Indonesia are two of D-8 countries that are intensely in trading relations. Jointly accounted for 85% of global palm oil production, recently both countries said that they will implement the blending of biofuel into fossil diesel in 2009, the two countries said in a joint communication earlier this year.

In March 2009, during parts of the consultation meetings of Indonesia and Malaysia in Jakarta, D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, met with the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The two neighbouring countries held the consultation for the third time in Jakarta on Tuesday to strengthen their bilateral relations.

The meeting underlined the importance of food security to D-8 economies and reaffirm their commitment to enhance collaborative efforts to increase food production and ensure food security, which came into being as a joint action plan known as “KL-Statement: Initiatives to Address Food Security by D-8 countries.

Alam said a working group on public-private sector partnership in food security was expected to be set up to maintain and develop cooperation among members in order to identify joint-investment potentials in fields such as fertilisers, animal feed, seed and fisheries. He also reported to Abdullah that the D-8 forum is currently working on joint investment plan in fertilizer project that will be carried collaboratively, that will serve the purpose to supply economic fertilizer for the benefit of the farmers in member countries.

Besides the fertilizer industry, Alam reported that the Organization is also working to boost the trade and investment intra D-8 by the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). This will increase the bargaining power of D-8 as economic region for developing countries, to balance the power of developed country such as G-8 that are currently under heavy blow of financial crisis.

Read Also

• Direct Fisheries Trade Launched from Indonesia’s Aceh to Malaysia
• Indonesia, Malaysia Expect Trade to Hit $15billion
• Bangladesh Calls for More Business to Egypt and Indonesia
• Business Opportunities Summary: Aug 23, 2007
• SG Discuss posibility of developing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programs of D-8 Companies, with Indonesia Business Links
• Malaysia And Indonesia Ink MoU On Agriculture Cooperation
• Indonesia and Malaysia explain to EU on palm-oil for biodiesel
• SG Discuss Possibility of Developing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programs of D-8 Companies, with Indonesia Business Links
• Among D-8 Countries, Malaysia and Turkey Ahead in Tourism Opportunities
• Among D-8 Countries, Malaysia and Turkey Ahead in Tourism Opportunities