Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr. TanDY

Malaysia Wants Agricultural Ties With Dalian

Date: September 07, 2006
Source: Bernama

DALIAN, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin hopes that Malaysia and China's northeastern port city of Dalian will establish close ties and joint ventures in agriculture.

During a call on Dalian Mayor Xia De Ren today, Muhyiddin invited Dalian businessmen to visit Malaysia and look at opportunities to form partnerships with Malaysian enterprises.

"Over the next five years, we will expand and increase our food production in all agricultural sectors and we want to emphasise aquaculture. I hope there will be follow-ups after my visit and joint ventures between Malaysian and Dalian companies," he said.

He said Malaysia would welcome Dalian to take part in the Malaysian Agriculture and Horticulture Show in November where China had been invited as a guest nation to exhibit at the expo.

Apart from its deep-sea fishing industry, Dalian is also renowned for its aqua farming in abalone and sea cucumber and processing aquatic products. Last year, Dalian produced US$1 billion (RM3.6 billion) worth of aquatic products.

Muhyiddin arrived on Tuesday for his first visit to Dalian. He is currently on a week-long visit to China.

Welcoming the opportunity to expand ties with Malaysia in the agricultural sector, Mayor Xia said Dalian already had close relations with Malaysia in tourism, finance as well as science and technology which was boosted by a 1999 visit to the port city by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister then.

He said there was already a group of Malaysian businesses in Dalian and local enterprises too had invested in Malaysia.

Dalian's economy grew 15.5 per cent last year and it expected to maintain the pace for this year, he added.

He said to further boost revenue from its aquatic products, Dalian would need to establish cooperation with international partners.

Muhyiddin will visit a Malaysian-owned cattle quarantine station in Xiamen on Friday before wrapping up his visit in Kunming in south-western Yunnan where he will tour agricultural research facilities.

-- BERNAMA