Reverse Linkage

43 DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION M alaysia is a progressive and modern Islamic country with a trade agenda operating as one of the mainstays of its economic develop- ment policy in support of the country’s transition from an agricultural to a modern, innovative and knowledge- based economy. The economy thrives on open, liberal and business-friendly policies that encourage foreign invest- ment as well as placing trade and investment as one of the important pillars of economic strategy. Malaysia’s foreign trade policy has been built on good and stable relationships with global trading partners, promoting competitive strengths and expertise in many sectors, and working towards achieving mutually beneficial relationships with those partners. Malaysia is the 24th largest trading nation in the world, dealing with over 200 countries, with foreign trade accounting for over 140 per cent of GDP – a main source of the nation’s revenue and net income. One of the key strategies of Malaysia’s economic policy is the development of trade as a tool for economic growth in order to ensure the prosperity and sustainable well-being of its people. In undertaking such policies, the country believes in sharing experiences with other nations with the objective of assisting trading partners to achieve economic growth themselves and developing long-term relationships through cooperation and collaboration initiatives. This formof collab- oration is reflected in Malaysia’s efforts to develop stronger linkages with countries in the developing world, one of the initiatives being through a technical partnership programme using trade as a key tool for economic development. Malaysia’s emphasis on expanding relations with foreign countries is demonstrated by leveraging its already developing partnerships through various platforms with a focus on South- South Cooperation (SSC). Malaysia’s commitment to SSC has been further strengthened by its signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to provide support and to share experiences in four key areas of development expertise: Reverse Linkage (RL), halal, Islamic finance and resource mobilisation. While these four areas provide an opportunity for Malaysia to share its development model and success with IsDB members countries, the RL programme is given particular focus due to its scope in using trade as a lever to expand and drive the export of Malaysia’s experiences and services in developing technical capacity for IsDB members. Using trade as a development tool provides the catalyst and impetus for countries to grow their economy through the internationalisation of products and services as well as developing sectors that can generate revenue and national income from the global market. It is for this purpose that the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) was selected by the Ministry of Finance as the facilitator for rolling out the items under the MoU with IsDB. MATRADE has gained a number of valuable experiences in developing capacity building programmes for countries in the devel- oping world in collaboration with other international agencies such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE); Dubai Export Development Corporation (DEDC); Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC); and IsDB. Examples of successful partnership development programmes are the Malaysia Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) and the Third Country Technical Programme (TCTP) for developing countries. Under such programmes, the role of Expanding Malaysia’s development partnership through SSC Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation and MARDI Corporation Suriname officials with MARDI Corporation and IsDB at MARDI’s Rice Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence, Penang, Malaysia Image: IsDB