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柔南中小企业公会 SME Johor Selatan / SME South Johor (SMEJS)

马来西亚,柔佛 -- 中国成都、重庆商务考察

Malaysia – China Trade Mission
Johor / Chengdu / Chongqing
21st - 26th April 2005

Objectives of the mission:

To foster the bilateral relationship (G to G) between the Sichuan Province (Chengdu City and Chongqing City) and the State of Johor.
To establish a bilateral relationship between NGO and NGO
To expose local SMIs to China enterprises and industries
To help local SMIs to explore the business investment and opportunities in Western China
To participate in the 10th China Chongqing Investment and Global Sourcing Fair (www.ccisf.com)

Mission Leader : YB Tan Kok Hong, Chairman of Johor Exco for International Trade and Industry,
Energy, Water and Communication

Accompanied by :
1. En Mohamed Basir Bin Mohamed Sali, Senior Manager of Johor State Investment Center
2. En Asman Shah Bin Abdul Rahman, Principal Assistant Director of Unit Perancangan Ekonomi Negeri Johor.

Organizer : SMI Association of Johor Selatan, Malaysia

Participants : 40 pax

Programs ( 6 days)

Day 1 - 3 (21/4 till 23/4) – Chengdu (3 days)
Day 4 - 6 (24/4 till 26/4) – Chongqing (3 days)

Day One – 21st April 2005 (Thursday), 14 – 22 (Degree Celsius)

0345 – Gathered at Projet, Johor Jaya to catch the bus for Changi Airport, Singapore
0415 – Second pick up point, Menara Ansar, Johor Bahru
0600 – 40 person, group-checked in, ready for boarding CA 404
0740 – Here we come, Chengdu, a city with a population of 8.6 million
1200 – Arrived in Chengdu, Shuang Liu Airport. Mr Lee, Deputy Director of Chengdu Foreign Trade greeted us.
1300 – Lunch

1400 – Headed for the real estate exhibition. A big screen, showed “Welcome delegates from Johor, Malaysia” was displayed when we arrived. We experienced a huge crowd flooding the exhibition, where we don’t see it in our country. The exhibitors spend a substantial amount for their promotional catalogues and materials. The next day, the local newspaper reported our visit.
1530 – Next, we were invited to visit the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade & Ecomomic Cooperation (FTEC). The Director of Chengdu of FTEC briefed YB and the delegates on how the One-Stop Center of the FTEC served the businessmen. A tour within the department had been arranged to explain to us their respective function. En Basir from JSIC also gave a presentation on the Johor Investment benefits to the Chengdu counterpart.
1800 – Delegates check in at the Prime-Ginza hotel.
1930 – It had been a tough day. All delegates were given a short nap before dinner.
2100 – After dinner, most of the delegates member had the first taste of shopping spree in Chengdu. The shopping complexes were just a few steps away from the hotel.

Day Two – 22nd April 2005 (Friday), 14 – 22 (Degree Celsius)

0700 – Morning Call
0730 – Breakfast

0830 – Leaving for Xinjin District, about 30 minutes drive from Chengdu city. Xinjin Districts have a population of approximately 0.3 million. Today, Xinjing’s government played host to the delegation from Johor, Malaysia.
0930 – Formal exchange between the two governments. YB Tan Kok Hong, assisted by his two officers, En Basir and En Asman, explained and answered some of the issues raised during integration. Edmund Liew (from Canon)helped up with the translation process.

1100 –SMI Association of Johor Selatan signed an MOU with Xinjin Federation of Industry and Commerce with the aimed to further accelerate the friendship and economy benefits between the two NGOs.
1200 – Proceeded for Lunch with the Xinjin Government, as well as the Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation department. The Muslim friends were arranged to attend the Friday Prayer at the mosque in the city of Chengdu. They were also being introduced to taste the local Muslim foods at the vicinity of the mosque.
1400 – Factory Visit after the lunch. The first one was a Malaysian owned company, Foh Cheong Chemical (Chengdu) Co. It was a government owned enterprise before, which wasn’t performed well over the years. However, ever since the Foh Cheong group took over, the new team had turned it around to become a profit making company.
1500 – Heng Li Magnet Co – produced magnet use in the electrical appliances that cater for the export market, such as Korea and Japan. We noticed that the company management doesn’t seem to care much about the rusty environment to its employees.

1600 – The third factory we visited was a detergent manufacturer, Nice (Chengdu) Co Ltd. It is a household brand for detergent product across the China. “Nice”, the biggest detergent producer in China, employed about 10,000 workers among its 5 branches. The yearly soap powder output is approximately 1 million tones, capturing a market share of 49% in the country.
1700 – The Xinjin Government accompanying us to visit two popular temples in the district. A brief history of the temple’s backgrounds was introduced during the visit.
1830 – Dinner hosted by the Xinjin Government. All members were really appreciated with the hospitality showed by the China counterpart. It was a delightful dinner.
2000 – After a long and hard day of work, members still did not appear to feel tired. They continued to search and experience the other facet of the Chengdu city during the night.

Day Three – 23rd April 2005 (Saturday), 10 – 17 (Degree Celsius) dizziling

0700 – Morning Call
0730 – Breakfast

0830 – Today, we did not have any official event in the morning. Sightseeing to the Panda Zoo was arranged. Sichuan is the mother land for the Panda. Panda is a protected species. There are about 1000 panda left in China, mostly located in Sichuan province. According to the tour guide, Panda spends about 1/3 of the time in filling up his stomach and 2/3 sleeping daily, wow!!
1200 – Lunch
1300 – Visited a silk souvenir shop. Members were amazed by the products shown in the shelves. Many members took the opportunity to bring home some memories of Chengdu to their beloved one.
1530 – Proceeded to Bei Men, a wholesale market for the construction materials. A wide range of steel materials can be seen in the warehouse. Unfortunately, it was not convenient to move around for more information due to bad weather.
1700 – Back to hotel, members are given free time to do their last minute shopping as we were scheduled to leave Chengdu tomorrow morning.
1900 – After dinner, the tour guide organized an optional activity for the member, i.e. to watch the popular Sichuan Opera, “Fu Rong Guo Cui”. The opera include spraying fire, changing faces etc. It was performed at Jin Jiang Stage every night and patronized by many tourists.

Day Four – 24th April 2005 (Sunday), 17 – 26 (Degree Celsius)

0700 – Morning Call
0730 – Breakfast
0830 – Checkout hotel, and headed to Hong Pai Lou, to conduct a market survey with car care products, spare parts and accessories. The workshops here were located and centralized in one area, where intended items can be easily sourced.
1100 – Before lunch, a Chinese medication product was demonstrated. According to the presenter, the products have gained some international reputation in the global arena. Quite a number of members seemed to agree with it.
1230 – Headed for Chongqing city, which is about 340km from Chengdu city. It took approximately 4 and half hours by coach to reach there.
1700 – Arrived in Chongqing, the only municipality with provincial status in Western China. It has a population of about 9.6 million. Chongqing is a mountainous city as compare to Chengdu. It limited land has contributed to the many high skyscrapers around the city and seen more congested with many cars and people. Members checked in to the JW Marriott Hotel, one of the five “5 star” hotel in Chongqing.
1830 – Proceeded to the Golden Resort Hotel, the venue for the 10th China Chongqing Investment and Sourcing Fair (CCISF) welcoming dinner. We were greeted by 2 departments’ officers, namely, Chongqing Foreign Trade and Economic Relation Commission and Chongqing International Exchange Center for Economy & Culture. Upon arrival, YB Tan Kok Hong was introduced to all the invited VVIP, he was being seated in the main table, together with the Deputy Minister of Commerce of China. All members were also being invited as guest to participate in the welcoming dinner concerning the foreign investors. We had some valuable exchanges with companies like Siemens, 3M, Erisson, GE, Carrefour, Hitachi, General Motor, Peugeot, Matsushita etc. The dinner was simple yet grand and the ceremonies was very clear and straight forward, which took less than 2 hours to complete the whole process. It was an eye opening session to all members.
2100 – Night tour to Chao Tien Men, a meaningful place to drop by, where two large rivers, the Yangtze and Jialing are meeting at this peninsular tip. The glazing night scenery of Chongqing was amazing, beautiful and worth viewing.

Day Five – 25th April 2005 (Monday), 17 – 27 (Degree Celsius)

0700 – Morning Call.
0730 – Breakfast
0830 – Leaving for the CCISF grand opening, the Foreign Trade’s director, Ms Linda Fang, an officer of the foreign trade department of Chongqing, accompanying us to the venue. We were escorted by the traffic police. Again, in CCISF, YB Tan was among the 43 invited VVIP to witness to grand opening of fair. Immediately after the official ceremony, the fair was open to the public. The 10th CCISF was held from 25 to 28 of April. It gathered a lot of industries, such as machinery, electronics, automobile, motorcycle, instrument, chemical industry, pharmacy, IT and daily consumptions etc. The total booths participated were 800.

1100 – YB Tan and his entourage, En Basir (JSIMC), En Asman Shah (UPENJ), Mok
(Ahli Majlis of Johor Bahru), Teh (SMI’s President) and reporters from Utusan (Zaini) and China Press (Ms Lee) have a close door meeting with Chongqing Vice Mayor, Wu Jianong and the Deputy Sec General (Wang Xuesi). Both parties had a brief exchanged. The Mayor took the opportunity to invite our State Premier, MB, YB Tan and Datuk Bandar to attend the 5th Asia Pacific City Mayor Summit, which will be held in Chongqing in October 2005 to further enhance the bilateral relationship between the Government and Trader and Investors. In return, YB Tan also invite the Mayor to visit Johor.
1200 – Grace, Lim Ah Lek, and Nick Wong were interviewed by the local newspaper for their opinion on how to establish the business and trade relationship in China.

1300 – Tuan Haji Ahmad, CEO of Mutiara Motor, visited a plant in Chongqing and signed a MOU with a local company in Chongqing with an intention to start a join venture business in Chongqing.
1800 – Back to hotel for dinner. As tonight was the eve of leaving China, all members were rushed to have their last grasp in the shopping center, Jie Fang Bei, which is just a stone throw away from JW Marriott Hotel.

Day Six – 26th April 2005 (Tuesday), 17 – 27 (Degree Celsius)

0700 – Morning Call
0730 – Breakfast
0830 – Although today in our last day in Chongqing, there were still be another mission for us to work on. We responded to an invitation by the Jiangjin Government, 42 km away from Chongqing city. Jiangjin have a population of 1.46 million.
0930 – Upon arrival, the traffic escorted us to visit the industrial park. Officers from Jiangjin Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Commission and Jiangjin Munucipal government Investment Office, explained the key advantages offered to the foreign investors on the two industrial parks, Degan and Shuang Fu. Soon after, we were also showed on the new development of the Eastern Jiajing City center.

1100 – Official meeting with Jiangjin government. The city Vice Mayor, Huang Shaoju, greeted us at the Hotel Jiangzhou. A formal briefing was exchanged between the two parties. YB Tan, assisted by his officers from JSIC and UPENJ gave a thorough presentation on the Johor State environment to the representatives of Jiangjin.
1200 – Lunch hosted by Jiangjin government.
1300 – Due to time constraint, we were rushing off for Chongqing Airport to catch a domestic flight back to Chengdu for a transit to our home country. It was a small carrier with 52 seats. We occupied 80% of their seats. It took 50 minutes to reach Chengdu, Shuangliu airport.
1800 – Dinner at Chengdu airport.
2000 – Home Sweet Home, arrived Johor Bahru at 0230, through Custom Green Lane, courtesy arrangement by UPENJ.

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