Poland aims to boost trade ties with Malaysia, particularly in the halal sector.
The eastern European country’s ambassador, Adam Jelonek, said it was looking at exporting more halal-based products to Malaysia, in collaboration with the Islamic Development Department (Jakim).
“Two years ago, we were quite successful in exporting our Polish halal products to the Malaysian market.
“We were among the few European countries that had been granted access to the Malaysian halal food and halal cosmetic industries.
“We are holding a conference with Jakim and I hope that both countries can be used as windows to the growing halal industry,” he said at the signing of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan here yesterday.
Jelonek said his country was in discussions to increase its investments in Malaysia.
Ahmad said the agreement would strengthen bilateral cooperation, and trade and investments between the two countries.
“Poland is Malaysia’s 12th largest trading partner among the European countries. Between January and April, total bilateral trade was RM681.8 million, an increase of 44.2 per cent, compared with the first quarter last year.
“The trade balance from January to April is in favour of Poland at RM155 million, and our target is to turn the numbers around.”
Last year, he said, total bilateral trade was RM1.437 billion. Total exports from Malaysia last year were RM934.96 million while total imports from Poland amounted to RM502.57 million.
Exports to Poland last year included electrical and electronic products, rubber, chemicals, wood and crude rubber, while imports from Poland were optical and scientific equipment, manufactured metal products, rubber products, processed food and electrical and electronic products.