Building Investment (September - October 2017)

NEWS & EVENTS
Boost to Malaysia-China economic
ties under Belt and Road Initiative
First mooted in September/October 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is
China’s grand strategy to create transnational economic cooperation on a global scale,
traversing 69 countries in East, West and Central Asia, the African continent and Europe.
As envisioned by Xi Jinping, President of People’s Republic of China, the BRI blueprint
integrates two trade routes.
1) Overland Silk Road Economic Belt, connecting China to Europe via Central Asia and
Russia, China to the Middle East via Central Asia, and China to South and Southeast
Asia, and;
2) Sea passage along 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, linking China’s ocean ports to
Europe via the South China Sea and Indian Ocean (through Straits of Malacca)and the
South Pacific.
Dato’ Lock Peng Kuan, Partner of Baker Tilly
(Malaysia).
Through “infrastructure connectivity and at enhancing trade flow
and investment opportunities by reducing transnational transaction
costs and barriers”, BRI focuses on: (a) Policy Coordination, (b)
Infrastructural Connectivity, (c) Trade and Investment Enhancement,
(d) Financial Integration, and (e) People-to-People Bond.
BAKER TILLY MALAYSIA DESK LAUNCH
Since its inception, Malaysia has been a supporter and one of
the major beneficiaries of BRI, manifest in the slew of Chinese
investments by state-owned enterprises and conglomerates such as
Hua Wei, CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co KAJ Development
(Melaka Gateway), China Rail Engineering Corporation (CREC) and
the Alibaba Group. Yet another infrastructure project under BRI that
would spur further development of our eastern coastal states is the
RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link financed by and awarded to China.
Malaysia, already an established trading partner of China (USD100
billion in 2016) coupled with its open economy, is well-positioned to
leverage on BRI. However, as Baker Tilly (Malaysia) Partner, Dato‘ Lock
Peng Kuan remarked at the launch of its Malaysia desk, “while many are
already eyeing opportunities to be part of the BRIU success story, not many
local organisations and SMEs are clear about how they can jump on the
bandwagon”; hence the launch of the Baker Tilly Belt and Road Desk – one of
the first to be established in Malaysia.
THE BAKER TILLY ADVANTAGE
Manned by professionals with extensive experience and know-how of both
Malaysian and Chinese markets, and working with network firms (Malaysia
Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Ferrier Hodgson), the Desk is poised to facilitate
trade and other business opportunities between the two countries, to connect and expand
entrepreneurship under the BRI umbrella.
With offices in 60 countries including China (network of 21 locations and manpower
more than 3,000 strong), Baker Tilly is ‘fully geared’ to act as the preferred and trusted
service provider for entry and participation in BRI, the new paradigm for international
economic cooperation.
Overlapping maps of BRI and ancient Silk Roads.
Map source: Economist.com
From left: Ms Carol Fung, Head of Seller Adoption
of E-Commerce, Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ),
Dato’ Lock Peng Kuan, Partner of Baker Tilly
(Malaysia), Mr Koh King Kee, Director of Baker
Tilly Belt and Road Desk, and Dato’ Heng Ji Keng,
Executive Chairman of Baker Tilly (Malaysia).
12 Building & Investment | www.b-i.biz