MASSA together with Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) and Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) have organised a business mission to Bangladesh in April 2010. The mission held business networking meetings with Government officials and Business Chambers in both Dhaka and Chittagong. Bangladesh is an emerging market with a population of 140 million and is brimming with burgeoning domestic demands. Members should take a serious look at the business opportunities available in that country. The report of the mission is detailed in the following pages.

Bilateral ties between Malaysia and Bangladesh have been warm and growing as evidenced by regular official visits by various senior Government officials and business delegations. The Honourable Prime Minister, H.E. Sheikh Hasina, in her forthcoming visit to Malaysia in May 2010, in conjunction with the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), has set aside time to meet and hold dialogues with top Malaysian corporate leaders to attract more FDI investments in Bangladesh. MASSA is pleased to play the role of organising this forthcoming dialogue.

In this edition, besides Bangladesh, we also wish to record our appreciation to the Mexican Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, for their close collaboration with MASSA resulting in the article on emerging opportunities in Mexico. We also have an update on Masscorp’s housing development in Vietnam. We hope these articles will inspire our members to look beyond our shores in their quest to expand their businesses and to raise the Malaysian flag in these overseas investment destinations.

As the world economy gains back lost ground from the global financial crisis and Malaysia gains traction in its economic recovery, MASSA will step up its activities to assist members to develop their networkings across the developing countries especially within the Asian Pacific region.

MASSA will seek collaborations with business associations, chambers and key interest groups to maximise these networkings and linkages for its members. Since MASSA operates on a very lean secretariat, we welcome the support of members especially with ideas and suggestions on how best to improve our service delivery.

We at the Secretariat, are grateful to the ongoing support given by the various Government agencies and their continued engagement with MASSA. Our thanks are also similarly extended to the diplomatic communities of the developing countries which are based in Malaysia.

Fatimah Sulaiman
Editor