BME meets Malaysian Minister of Economy in Frankfurt

One week before the start of the second "BME/MATRADE B2B Sourcing Day Malaysia" with ten renowned companies - including the car manufacturer Škoda - and selected Malaysian suppliers, BME Chief Executive Officer Dr Helena Melnikov and Olaf Holzgrefe , Head of BME International, met with the Malaysian Minister of Economic Affairs Dato' Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and his delegation in Frankfurt for a bilateral exchange. Together with MATRADE CEO Mohamed Mustafa Abdul Aziz and Olaf Rüter , Vice President Sourcing of BME member company Osborn GmbH, both sides discussed the potential for further intensifying cooperation. Germany is Malaysia's most important trading partner in the EU and has attractive sourcing options for both global players and SMEs far beyond the raw materials sector. The meeting also focused on the BME's South East Asia Purchasing Initiative on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWI). Together with the foreign chambers of commerce from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, the BME will build a bridge to the Southeast Asian region. The highlight of the initiative will be qualified B2B talks between companies from German-speaking countries and Southeast Asian suppliers in March 2022. The talks are expected to take place online against the backdrop of the Corona pandemic. In the first phase of the purchasing initiative, more than 80 German companies have already registered their needs with the BME. Together with the AHKs, the buyers' association will now select the suppliers in a targeted manner and inform and prepare them in upstream seminars. "Especially now, when supply chains are under enormous stress and buyers are complaining about supply bottlenecks, the move by the BMWI, BME and AHK towards Southeast Asia is a logical offer," says Olaf Holzgrefe. "South-East Asia is developing dynamically - Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand offer exciting options. Many German companies are already active there, but there are still undiscovered options that we would like to present to BME members and the purchasing community together with our partners." BME members and buyers can still notify the BME of their interest in participating in the Southeast Asia Purchasing Initiative. Please send your expression of interest in writing to: bme-international@bme.de