KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): The inaugural meeting of the Malaysian-Kazakhstan Business Council (MKBC) is set to be held in Almaty in Kazakhstan on Oct 30.

In conjunction with the meeting, a business forum will be organised with participation of the representatives from government and business circles of the two countries.

In a recent statement, MKBC said the main goal of the meeting is to present the opportunities for expanding bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation, to provide a platform for discussing potential joint projects and to intensify business contacts between Kazakhstan and Malaysia.

The agreement on the establishment of the MKBC was inked during Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s State visit to Malaysia in April 2012.

MKBC activities are aimed to support private companies who is interested in doing business, as well as to promote goods and services in the markets of the two countries.

Malaysia is among the leading trade partners of Kazakhstan in the region of Southeast Asia.

As at the end of 2017, mutual trade increased by 49% and amounted to US$123.4 million.

For the first 8 months of 2018, mutual trade increased by 72% and amounted to US$112.6 million.

MKBC said Malaysian companies and investors in Kazakhstan have jointly implemented projects in the field of oil and gas, agricultural, engineering and construction for the total amount of US$1 billion.

It said other promising areas of enhancing cooperation could be seen in the field of Islamic finance, halal industry, renewable energy, tourism and many others.

MKBC said other plans during the event include its signing of memorandums of understanding with Kazakh Invest National Company JSC and Chamber of International Commerce of Kazakhstan, as well as other agreements on business cooperation between companies of the two countries.