Almotamar.net BERNAMA - Kuala Lumpur: Yemen is keen to learn from Malaysia's success stories to develop its own trade and industry, the country's Industry and Trade Minister Yahya Mohamed Al-Mutawakel said Wednesday.
"We look into the Malaysia's experiences in trade and industry. It is really amazing. The growth, achievements and developments that have taken place over the last 20 years are really admirable," he said.
"We need to learn from such experiences," he told reporters after meeting with his counterpart, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz, at her ministry here.
Yahya said Rafidah emphasised that lessons should be learnt to avoid repeating mistakes. "Experiences cannot be replicated 100 percent but definitely we can look into them and also try to identify the commonality as well as the potential," he said.
Yahya, who led a delegation of 22 businessmen to Kuala Lumpur for three days from May 8, said Yemen was now giving priority to industry and also looking for developers to enter some areas.
On bilateral trade, Yahya said some progress has been made in trade between the two countries.
"We look into the possibility of improving trade and are working together on this," he said. Last year, Yemen was Malaysia's seventh largest trading partner in West Asia with total trade valued at RM1.1 billion, up 86.4 percent compared to 2005.
Meanwhile, Rafidah said officials from Yemen are welcome to use the facility offered under the Malaysian technology programme.
"They can come here to talk to our officials to see how some of the policies in trade have evolved," she said.
Rafidah said in offering to share experiences, Malaysia could help Yemen to avoid making some of the early mistakes.
"We can help out by saying that these need not be done because our experiences showed they were really not worthwhile. So Yemen can have an earlier start and this is where the sharing of experiences is very important," she said.
She added that the first joint economic trade committee meeting between the two countries has been scheduled to be held in Sanaa', Yemen, towards end of this year.
Last year, Malaysia's total exports to Yemen amounted to RM954 million, up 119.2 percent from 2005, while total imports came up to RM190 million, an increase of 6.1 percent.
To date, Malaysian investments in Yemen totalled RM51 million, mainly in mining and quarrying activities.
Among the Malaysian companies operating in Yemen are Muhibbah Engineering in the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and Pensonic in the sales of Malaysian-made electrical products. –
Bernama