The signing ceremony took place at the 2019 “Belt and Road” Production Capacity Cooperation Briefing. Held on 18th of November, the event took place at Setia City Convention Centre, Shah Alam. The event was hosted by the People’s Government of Shandong Province, jointly organised by Shandong Provincial State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Department of Commerce Shandong Province and Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government and supported by Hong Seng Group and Weichai Holding Group Co., Ltd.

Speaking at the event was Mr Wang Shu Jian, Vice Governer of Shandong Province. In his speech, he emphasized that “Malaysia and Shandong Province has a long-standing existing cooperative relationship. As a major city and transportation hub of China, Shandong Province covers 1/6of China’s coastal routes. It’s location at the intersection of the ancient as well as modern north-south and east-west trading routes have helped alleviate Shandong as one of China’s indispensable economic centre. Shandong is now one of the most populous and affluent province, making it China’s third wealthiest province.”

Also present at the event was Mr SivasuriyamoorthySundara Raja, Executive Director of Investment Promotion of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). In his speech he said that there are many similarities and complimentary traits between the two economies. “There are many common interests and potential for cooperation between our nations. Malaysia is moving towards strategic diversification to increase competitiveness by focusing on complex knowledge-intensive and high-end products and services. Our flourishing industrial landscape offers exciting avenues for investments in sectors such as advanced electronics, front-end semiconductors, machinery and equipment, advanced materials, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and e-commerce. To ensure a significant leap in our investment activities, we continue to enhance the ecosystem to approach for both the manufacturing and services sector. Thus, we are leveraging on new sources of competitive advantages and will continue to assume a pivotal role in bridging the human capital needs of potential investors.”

Asian Trucker spoke to Dato’ Teoh Hai Hin, Group Managing Director of Hong Seng Group after the event. “The main purpose why Hong Seng is here today is to highlight our relationship with our business partners from Shandong. Some of the collaborations include Weichai generators, Shaanxi and Hohan heavy-duty trucks amongst many others. There are various Chinese products under the Hong Seng Group and it is a win-win relationship for us to leverage on this partnership. We have been working together for almost six years, and we signed the deal today in cooperation with Shandong Province’s effort to raise awareness on Shandong as the future investment hub. Hong Seng Group has been a proud supporter of China trucks for a long time. In the Malaysian market, Chinese trucks take up about 15% of the market share. From that 15 percent, Hong Seng Group is responsible for 40% of the Chinese trucks on Malaysian roads. I hope that we will have more collaborations in the future and am excited for the future of Chinese trucks here in Malaysia.”