Malaysians to visit, invest in Cotabato City

COTABATO
CITY –- Bright business prospects for 2016 here have started to
commence with the upcoming visit of executives of three of the largest business
groups in the State of Johor, Malaysia, officials said.Malaysian
traders are set to attend a business forum in Cotabato City later this month,
Mayor Japal Guiani Jr said.
It aims
to build a bridge” that will connect local producers and business groups to
Johor and reach a larger market. The group of investors include officials from
the ISKANDAR Regional Development Authority, Johor Corporation, IMCoop -- the
three big players in Johor.
Guiani said the Malaysian investors are arriving on January 25 to personally meet with
cooperatives officials and other traders in the city on January 27. They
would like to see for themselves which industries have the potential to expand
operations in Johor,” he said.
Guiani
said the visit of Malaysian investors to Cotabato City is one of the results of
his recent business trip to Johor last month where he met with these groups.
In
that meeting, the Malaysian businessmen have expressed their intent to invest
in Cotabato City and help create livelihood and employment for the
Cotabatenios. The
trip to Johor was one of the major projects that we have planned last year to
be realized this year,” Guiani said.
”It
was actually our former city administrator Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi
who conceptualized and coordinated all of this. And as we have said, the trip
was really fruitful, Guiani said.
Another
factor that added interest to Malaysian groups in exploring investment
potentials of Cotabato City is the current progress that the city is
experiencing.Honestly,
Guiani said, the Malaysians were impressed with the several recognition that
the city has recently received and the growth in the local economy with the
opening of several malls and the significant decrease in the unemployment rate.
They
have recognized our efforts in improving the lives of our people. All of these
will be discussed in the business forum. We will be laying down all the
possibilities that they can choose from,” he added.The
city government will showcase the city’s rich aquaculture and agriculture
resources as these are the areas that the Malaysian investors are highly
interested in. Guiani
said the cooperatives and other groups that are engaged in these industries
will be invited to the forum for them to be given a chance to interact with the
Malaysians and form agreements on how they can expand their markets.
One
of the biggest come on” the city has offered was the existence of the
country’s largest and biggest Double A Halal” Slaughterhouse which when fully
operational, is planned to have further developments to make it a Triple A” Halal”
slaughterhouse facility and be able to export Halal” meat to the ASEAN market.
Guiani
said the Malaysians would want this visit to be filled with the necessary information
about Cotabato City, its industries, its facilities, its utilities and its
hospitable people.