Greetings to all our members and daily readers,

The Federation of GCC Chambers (FGCCC), a grouping of all federations
and chambers of commerce of the Arab Gulf States or the Gulf
Cooperation Council States (GCC) comprising the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Qatar, State of Kuwait, The
United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman, has chosen Malaysia
to set up its economic centre in ASEAN.

The GCC-ASEAN Economic Centre (GAEC), to be located at the Malaysian
Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur,
is expected to be a springboard to boost business and economic
activities between the GCC and ASEAN, the Chairman of the Centre cum
Chief Executive Officer of GCC International Trade Centre in Doha,
Qatar, Hamad Ali Safran, said per NST.

The Centre aims to promote bilateral and multilateral economic
activities including trading; industries and investments by private
businesses, government- linked companies; as well as collaboration
between government agencies in the GCC and ASEAN member countries
particularly in the oil & gas, education, trading, finance (including
banking, investments, insurance) and food/agricultural activities.

FGCCC and MIDA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 15 July
2008, which outlined the areas of collaboration in Kuala Lumpur.

In welcoming the setting up of the centre, Dato' Jalilah Baba,
Director General of MIDA, said the move would further enhance
economic ties between GCC and ASEAN.

Companies in Malaysia would be able to benefit from the expected
increase in business activities, following the establishment of the
centre. GCC's investments in ASEAN will also be able to benefit from
the low tariff regime under the ASEAN Common Effective Preferential
Tariff (CEPT) and gain access to a growing market of some 570 million
in the region, she added

Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country with an internationally
recognised halal certification, is also well-placed to be a global
hub for halal products, where GCC could source halal products from
Malaysia for distribution to the Middle East market, Dato' Jalilah
said.

Meanwhile, MIDA expects more gulf investments to flow into Malaysia
in the coming years, having chalked up investments of RM4.5 billion
till May 2008, from these Arab Gulf States. These investments were
mainly in the manufacturing of basic metal products, Dato' Jalilah
added.

To-date, GCC companies having established a presence in Malaysia
include Al-Rajhi bank, Kuwait Finance House, Qatar Islamic bank and
Gulf Petroleum.

One of our main goals at DK Malaysia Development is to promote,
business development, investment, trade, and tourism to Malaysia and
we serve and assist MITI, Ministry of International Trade and
Industry Malaysia and MIDA, Malaysian Industrial Development
Authority.

All the best,

Fred Plimley
President - DK Malaysia Development, LLC
Host/Moderator - Linkedin Malaysia
f.plimley@...
http://www.linkedin.com/in/fredplimley
(951) 243-3602
(909) 214-8783
(206) 338-3191
(+44) 020 7193 7317
Skype ID: fredplimley