Malaysia and Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on August 29 – during the Malaysia Business Events Week in Kuala Lumpur – in a bid to build more business connections and engagement between the two countries.
The three signatories include the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Malaysian Association Of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (MACEOS), and Indonesian Exhibition Companies Association (IECA-Asperapi).
MyCEB’s CEO, Abdul Khani Daud explained that the purpose of the MoC is to establish a framework for strategic collaboration between business events stakeholders.
Areas of cooperation include marketing and promotions; sharing leads, programmes, knowledge and advice; developing standards; as well as training and education to upgrade the skills of industry players through seminars and workshops.
Abdul Khani added that the MoC will help “position both countries as preferred business events destinations” to the international market.
Later this year, IECA-Asperapi members are set to meet with MACEOS members in Kuala Lumpur to network and look into ways they can collaborate further. MACEOS will reciprocate with a visit to Jakarta next year.
As China is still closed and longhaul business events have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, it is an opportune time to leverage on the markets of neighbouring countries – Indonesia is a huge market to tap, said Francis Teo, president, MACEOS.
While this is the first MoC signed with another country, Abdul Khani intends to extend similar collaboration with Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and India next year to create more B2B opportunities which will also contribute to the quicker recovery of Malaysia’s business events industry.
