Highlights at Penang Institute

Indonesia Trade Seminar

On 17 March 2022, the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Penang hosted a research briefing for Penang Institute at Hotel Courtyard on a study entitled “Selected Indonesian Products in the Penang and Malaysia Markets: A comparative advantage analysis”. Dato’ Dr Ooi Kee Beng, the Executive Director of Penang Institute gave a foreword along with Bapak Bambang Suharto, the Consul General of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Penang; Bapak Mirza Nurhidayat, the Director for South-East Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affair in Indonesia; and Bapak Bernardino M. Vega, the Deputy of Chairman of Chamber of Commerce Indonesia for International Relation.

This briefing was presented by the Chief Researcher of this project, Dr Lee Siu Ming who is the Senior Analyst from the Socioeconomics and Statistics Programme. The presentation discussed the Malaysian market size and Malaysia-Indonesia trade relations, Indonesian trade interest and trend of consumer behaviour in Penang and Malaysia, the comparative advantage and export potential for selected Indonesian products and suggestions to improve the trade relationship between Indonesia and Penang/Malaysia.

This hybrid seminar was attended by about 35 participants from the Penang state agencies, chambers of commerce and industry associations while over 80 Indonesians from the business community in Indonesia participated in the seminar concurrently through the Zoom meeting.