The first quarter of 2009 has just gone by. The past 3 months have evidently shown us that the global economic and financial environment had rapidly deteriorated and this had
a consequent effect on Malaysia’s economic performance as evidenced by the decline in exports and consequential decline in industrial production. 2009 will indeed be a challenging year for Malaysia.

Given such challenges, we must not lose sight of our respective goals.
It is important that we continue to engage and establish business linkages, especially with emerging countries that are not in financial crisis. The linkages we make today may put us in a better position to reap the rewards, when the global financial situation stabilises and recovery is back on track.

MASSA had the opportunity to meet the Minister of Trade and Industry of Egypt and also senior officials from Kyrgyz Republic. These are developing countries with enormous business opportunities. We hope members will continue to look out for opportunities to network and to link-up through MASSA. Do look out for our weekly circulars delivered to you via your email box and/or fax.

Activities organised by MASSA will pick-up speed in the coming months with a number of incoming visitors and field trips planned. An appointment with our incoming new Prime Minister who is MASSA’s patron is also in our diary.

We want to thank all our contributors, namely, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) and Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) for their informative articles in this newsletter.

We also want to thank the Chairman of the People’s Committee of
Danang City, S.R. Vietnam and
their Investment Promotion Center (IPC Danang) for working closely with MASSA to highlight the investment potentials of this beautiful city in Central Vietnam.

Hamidah Tun Ghafar
Editor