The Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MGCC) is the Official Representative of German Industry and Trade in Malaysia with a strong and comprehensive network of companies, trade organizations, government agencies and authorities in Malaysia, in Germany and also in the Asia-Pacific region. The Chamber is part of the global network of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHK network), with more than 120 offices in over 80 countries and is directly connected to the 80 regional Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Germany (IHKs) and the Association of German Industry and Commerce in Berlin (DIHK). Established in the year 1991, MGCC has grown into the largest bilateral chamber in Malaysia and is a strong and reliable partner to its members and clients with a widespread, result-oriented range of services and a successful track record.
The Chamber represents the interests of more than 400 members and is the official voice of German business in Malaysia. MGCC is the preferred service partner for German companies seeking to establish a market presence here or to increase their engagement in Malaysia. The Chamber also offers a platform to share experiences and exchange views at a wide range of forums and events, as well as to establish business relationships amongst the Chamber’s network. The MGCC network connects its members with ministries, government agencies, business organizations and companies both in Malaysia and Germany. The experienced, professional management and staff at MGCC combined with direct cooperation between German and Malaysian business ensures mutual business needs of all parties are met.
Germany is Malaysia’s largest trading partner among the European Community and its main sources of FDI in Malaysia. In 2012, bilateral trade between Malaysia and Germany reached 10.4 billion Euro. German exports to Malaysia increased by 14.0 percent over the year 2011. During the course of 2000-2010, more than 25,000 jobs were created with German participation.
More than 400 German companies have a base in Malaysia, and more than a third of these companies have production facilities. German companies are amongst the the largest employers in Malaysia, lead by Infineon with a staff strength of almost 10,000 employees in Kulim and in Melaka and followed by DHL with more than 6,000 employees country-wide and BBraun with more than 5,500 employees, most of them at the main production facility in Penang. Many German multinational corporations are operating in Malaysia, but Malaysia is also an attractive destination for the German “Mittelstand”, or the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of the German economy. Apart from new significant investments every year, German companies with a long history in Malaysia are strengthening their operations with additional production lines, investments in R&D facilities or establishing their own HR development institutes.
Malaysia’s relationship with Germany is not confined to business alone. Having long established ties in the field of education and human resources development, MGCC with the help of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (Federal Agency for International Cooperation) was instrumental in the set-up of the German-Malaysian Institute (GMI) to provide technical training. Modelled after the German Dual System, it has been successful in training competent technical individuals for industries specialising areas of mould and die, mechatronics, instrumentation and control electronics and I.T.
In relation to that, the Chamber is also very much focused on contributing significantly to high-quality education of the young Malaysians. MGCC is currently establishing a training program based on the German Dual Vocational Training system from Germany in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Resources, the GMI and a number of corporate partners. The objective of the program is to bring German and local partners together, to introduce selected and recognized occupations through close co-operation with Malaysian education authorities. By becoming a training provider, the Chamber started to offer seminars and courses, for example, on intercultural topics or on market-entry seminars by German and Malaysian lecturers. These courses also cater for the needs ofsmall and medium-sized companies that are unable to conduct these topics in their own training departments. Among other topics envisaged are seminars on legal and tax issues, labor related matters, including the termination and dismissal of staff, as well as seminars on Marketing strategies, Finance and Leadership by experienced speakers.
Further facilitating the economic relations between the two countries, the Chamber has welcomed several business and political delegations from Germany to Malaysia. The Chamber has also organized multi-facetted business programs including symposiums and forums, business matching sessions and company visits for business delegations from Germany. On separate occasions, the Chamber also participated in round table discussions with political members of the Economics Committee as well as the Budget Committee of the Bundestag (German Parliament).
With regard to the Chamber’s strategic initiatives and engagements in green technology, the Chamber has participated and will continue to participate in trade, investment and technology assistance as well as technology transfer related to environmental technology. The Chamber actively participates in the EU/German pavilion at the International Greentech & Eco-Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia (IGEM) to create higher visibility for the Chamber resulting in significant revenues. On taking the Chamber’s mission a step further, a PV Delegations which comprised of over 30 participants including a State Chief Minister were organised to Germany in 2010 and 2011, another one coming up in June 2012, proving the Chamber’s initiative which is in line with the government’s vision on adopting Green Technology as key driver of the country’s future economic growth.
Offering a complete range of services specifically tailored to fulfil the custom requirements of our members, our professional management and staff ensures that the mutual business needs of all parties involved are met. In particular, the marketing department of the Chamber operating under the service brand of the AHK network, “DEinternational”, has developed dynamically in recent years. MGCC offers its members and clients a comprehensive and flexible service portfolio customized to their interests and requirements, especially also for small and medium-sized businesses. This portfolio includes free initial consultations for the preparation of a market entry or extension, market studies, company formations and work permits, sales activities by Chamber staff (“Office-in-Office”), legal and investment consulting, rental of office space (German Business Center) or comprehensive accounting services.
A wide-range of services are provided by MGCC for companies interested in doing business in Germany or other parts of the European Union, which includes providing information on rules & regulations, custom tariffs, taxes, technical and safety standards, business partner search, advice on investment opportunities in Germany’s most profitable business locations, planning a visit to one of Germany’s famous international trade fairs or financial background information about German customers.
Apart from the traditional services of providing address listings and market studies, the Chamber has been strongly developing its DEinternational services portfolio according to the individual needs of its German clients for years, and has launched several service packages to facilitate market entry allowing the clients to literally concentrate “on their own business”:
For further information on the Chamber’s activities or should you have any enquiries pertaining to MGCC’s marketing services, please contact us at 03-9235 1800 or email info@malaysia.ahk.de
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