JEDDAH, 20 May 2004 — The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and Malaysia’s Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up an MDC office at the chamber in Jeddah. Its function will be to coordinate joint projects in the development of Information Computers Technology.
The MoU was signed by JCCI Chairman Adel Fakieh, and Abdulla Kadir Bacha, vice president of MDC. Goban Arasu, chief technology officer, MSC Management Services, gave a presentation on the Multimedia Super Corridor.
“One of the objectives is to help Saudis wishing to establish businesses in Malaysia and also provide opportunities for Malaysian businessmen in Saudi Arabia through the chamber in ICT sector services and production services,” Bacha told Arab News at the chamber headquarters where the ceremony was held yesterday.
He said that the office will cover the Middle East region focusing mainly on Saudi Arabia and that there would be exchanges of training programs both for small and medium enterprises (SME’s), and human resource development.
He hoped that the cooperation would benefit the Jeddah, Saudi and the Malaysian economy and set an example of the cooperation that can take place between Muslim countries.
“We can learn a lot from each other and benefit each other without necessarily going and importing this know-how from the United States, or Europe,” Fakieh said. “This is the first of its kind for the both the chamber and the MDC,” he added.
He explained that the day’s signing was an agreement of intent. Following on from this would be workshops hosted by experts in the field. It would act as a forum where experts from Malaysia and interested parties from the Kingdom could meet and develop ideas.
Bacha said MDC wanted to bring opportunities for companies in Malaysia as well as in the Kingdom for the Malaysian market. The huge markets of China and India — of great interest to Saudi businesses — are accessed easily through Malaysia. “We have people who know the language,” he said.
Last year, MDC did the Organization of Islamic Conference strategic plan for the OIC secretariat. “This is for the first time we are doing it on a big scale. Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor is one of the first bridges between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia,” Bacha stressed.
He described the MoU as a platform intended to create an environment in which the JCCI, a pivotal point for business systems, the business operators in the Kingdom and Malaysian partners to identify opportunities and potential partners. He anticipated that it could be the base for the whole region.
“It is the first of the global bridges in the region and we hope it could be a model for success, so that we can create similar models with other regions as well,” he stressed.
