GERMANY - Malaysia's Relations With Germany Have A Great Future - Consul General - CIMB Principal eyes Germany

www.bernama.com - FRANKFURT, May 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's relations with Germany have a "great future" not only in trade and economic relations but also in other areas of interest, particularly education.

Malaysian consul-general here, John Samuel, said both sides had good fundamentals for forging a close cooperation in various areas of interest

"I believe there is great future in relations with Europe's economic powerhouse and Malaysia, a key member country of Asean," he told Bernama. (source)


He said both countries needed to inject a new element to provide a strong growth momentum to the bilateral relations.

"I believe education is one area which will drive bilateral ties to the next level. Indeed, I think cooperation in the field of education and tourism needs to be intensified," he said.

The German industry is looking for markets in Asia because Europe is mired in a crisis and the opportunities available in the Germany's direct neighbourhood are limited.

Bilateral trade with Germany in 2011 amounted to RM40.37 billion, accounting for 3.2 per cent of Malaysia's total foreign trade.

German-Malaysia trade in the first quarter of 2012 amounted to RM10.41 billion; Malaysia's exports amounted to RM4.28 billion and imports from Germany RM6.13 billion.

Over 300 German companies maintain a physical representation in Malaysia, of which 70 have production operations.

German companies, increasingly, use Malaysia as a regional hub for South-East Asia.

Samuel said there was also growing interest by Malaysian companies and banking institutions to explore new ground in Germany.

Recently, chief executive of CIMB Principal, Datuk Noripah Kamso, was here to launch an Islamic banking programme.

CIMB has not yet officially identified a suitable German partner for its future operations, but pundits here speculate that this could happen soon.

Islamic investment represents a 1.2 trillion euro market.

The bank is eyeing Germany's roughly four million Muslim population, hoping that non-Muslims would also join in, to availing of syariah-compliant facilities the bank would offer.

There are about 2,000 Malaysians in Germany, of which 700 are students.

-- BERNAMA

Source:  http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsbusiness.php?id=669045 - May 28, 2012