AMCHAM Members’ Briefing

The Members’ Briefing is a regular session between the U.S. Embassy’s senior officials and the Chamber’s members’ attracted Senior Management from various industries. The August session was led by the Deputy Chief of Mission from the U.S. Embassy, Mr. Edgar D Kagan. He provided an update of the new wave of officials who have been assigned to the Embassy in KL and encouraged the members to reach out to the Chamber so their issues can be addressed.

On current issues affecting American businesses in Malaysia, he stated that Malaysia still remains an important destination for investments, citing some recent ground breaking events in Malaysia by U.S. companies like HP in Penang. Malaysia is an attractive place to do do business and likewise, more Malaysian companies are also investing in the U.S.

The Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of Philippines in the dispute over the South China Sea. All parties recognize the need to follow the international law and rules of the world. The claimants will take a step back to work together and find ways to resolve this together which is consistent with the law.

The U.S. Administration is still committed to conclude the TPP agreement and the USTR teams are making a visits to Malaysia in August and September to receive feedback and address issues from Malaysian companies and other stakeholders on the implementation. The initial visit would be focusing on areas such as labor protection, Intellectual Property Rights, customs declaration. The USTR will continue to stay engaged and in September, the discussion will cover the chapter on environment.

Mr. Kagan added on that the relationship between Malaysia and U.S. has grown tremendously, in countering terrorism. Malaysia is hosting the Regional Digital Counter-Messaging Communications Centre which will address cyberspace messaging, in collaboration with U.S., as it is important area for both parties.

The session ended with an interactive Q&A session and adjourned to informal networking over cocktails.
Please join us for the next briefing on Wednesday, October 5, 2016 at the Hilton Hotel, KL Sentral at 5:30pm with H.E. Ambassador Joseph Y. Yun and other key Embassy personnel.