MDEC, DEPA sign MoU to strengthen Malaysia – Thailand digital economy cooperation
BANGKOK: The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) to strengthen digital economy cooperation between Malaysia and Thailand.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his counterpart, Prayuth Chan o-cha attended the MoU exchange ceremony after holding a bilateral meeting at the Government House, here, today.
MDEC, the leading digital economy agency under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD), said the MoU will be a stepping stone for more local technology companies to penetrate the Thai market with the support and strategy of the Malaysian Foreign Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE).
Through this MoU, MDEC will establish cooperation in further increasing efforts between agencies and local technology companies together with the Thai investment agency and DEPA in exploring opportunities for business cooperation, generating complete ideas in addition to promoting Malaysian-made products.
The MDEC statement informed the Minister of Communications and Digital, Fahmi Fadzil, that KKD welcomed the MoU and that he was pleased with the strategic cooperation that would further strengthen bilateral relations between Malaysia and Thailand.
“We at KKD, through MDEC, have identified opportunities to promote Malaysian companies through direct intervention by focusing comprehensively on export efforts and ecosystem support in Thailand.
“Those companies have the potential to go further as regional champions in order to produce more Malaysian brands as ‘ unicorns ‘ and thus make Malaysia the digital hub of choice in Southeast Asia,” he said.
MDEC’s Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Mahadhir Aziz said, Thailand is one of the focus countries under the Gateway, Amplify, Invest and Nurture (GAIN) program introduced by the corporation since 2018.
“This program plays an important role in fostering close collaboration with the Thai ecosystem including business channel partners, government agencies, venture capital investment companies, business associations and corporate companies.
“So far, MDEC has successfully facilitated a series of successes for more than 40 technology companies in Malaysia and partners in Thailand and generated a total opportunity value of over RM400 million to the country’s digital economy,” he said.
Anwar also witnessed the exchange of three more MoUs between the national utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and its subsidiaries TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd and TNB Power Generation Sdn Bhd with agencies and energy companies in Thailand namely the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), Planet Utility Co Ltd (Planet Utility) and B.Grimm Power Public Co Ltd (B.Grimm) to explore potential cooperation in the field of energy.
