Saleh Fareed Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Thirty-two Malaysian companies are geared to take part at the Saudi Building and Interiors Exhibition (SBIE) 2014 to be held at Jeddah Center for Forums and Events from May 11 to 14. The objective of the MSE is to brand Malaysian services overseas as well as to promote and showcase the capabilities of our Malaysian services companies, according to MATRADE Jeddah Trade Commissioner, Khairul Annuar Bin Abdul Halim. “Malaysian services will be promoted through seven clusters namely Construction and Related services, Oil & Gas, Contract Furniture, Logistics, Machinery & Equipment, Building Materials and Electrical & Electronics including LED lightings and fittings and household & industrial appliances. MATRADE has pre-arranged a total of 224 business meetings with the Saudi companies for our Malaysian exhibitors,” he said. Since 2008, the Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE) had been organized in selected target markets in the Middle East, ASEAN, Asia and Europe. With construction projects valued at more than $90 billion (SR337.5 billion) planned in 2014, “Saudi Arabia is one of the region's biggest market for the industry,” said MATRADE Jeddah Trade Commissioner. He added “Projects announced include amongst others Makkah Metro (LRT), expansion of Jeddah and Madinah International Airports and new schools and hospitals in the Kingdom.” Bilateral trade relations between Malaysia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had increased significantly from $260 million (SR 975 million) in 1990 to $1 billion (SR3.75 billion) in 2013 (in span of 23 years). Total bilateral trade between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia for January to March 2014 amounted to $1 billion (SR3.75 billion) as compared with $971 million (SR 3.64 billion) for the same period in 2013, an increase of 3.6 percent. Malaysia's total exports to KSA for the first there months of 2014 increased by 13.1 percent as compared to 0.6 percent decline in Malaysia's total imports from the Kingdom during the same period.
