^{YB Teresa Kok, Minister of Primary Industries and Tan Sri Vincent Tan, founder of Berjaya Corporation Berhad visited the commodities exhibition at Berjaya Times Square Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.} 


KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- As part of the on-going Love My Palm Oil Campaign (LMPO), Minister of Primary Industries, YB Teresa Kok enlisted the support and commitment of Berjaya Corporation through its Chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan.

The event hosted at Berjaya Hotel Times Square on Monday 20 January 2020, also showcased a number of Malaysian commodities particularly palm oil, cocoa and pepper successfully incorporated into various food and non-food formulations that are finding niche markets including in Japan and other developed markets. 

Tan Sri Vincent Tan was emphatic in stating that Berjaya Corporation was a true supporter of all things Malaysian and his corporation’s base remains firmly in Malaysia. 

This also meant that they actively look into various locally grown and available supply chains to be added to their long list of already successful consumer platforms.

In this context he had closely followed the nation’s commodities sectors and found so many unexploited opportunities presented by palm oil, cocoa and pepper.

Minister YB Teresa Kok in welcoming Berjaya Corporation’s commitment assured the business communities that her Ministry was spearheading research on several downstream applications.

Many, particularly those based on Malaysian palm oil and cocoa have been commercialised successfully by small and medium sized entrepreneurs.

The products are formulated and packaged to international standards and are getting international attraction but yet their ability to expand into major markets are limited due to a lack of business experiences and supply chain management.

“In this matter the long term expertise and experience of the Berjaya Corporation which is already world class and demonstrated by their successful management of leading brands such as 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Kenny Rogers could come in handy,” said YB Teresa Kok.

Indeed while interacting with the exhibitors at the event made up largely of the small and medium entrepreneurs both Tan Sri Vincent Tan and YB Teresa Kok exchanged many interesting observations, with Vincent Tan showing keen interest in several products displayed.

He stated that his team would be making further assessment of these products to help map out possible market expansion particularly through his existing enterprises.

Berjaya Corporation also agreed to work with the Ministry of Primary Industries and MPOC to create a palm oil awareness walkabout area and that Berjaya Hotel will get its chefs to recreate palm based recipes for food preparation and presentations in the next two months.

This was deemed timely since 2020 is Visit Malaysia Year and the expected influx of more than 20 million tourists could be given a taste of Malaysia through these primed food recipes developed by Berjaya Hotels and its culinary schools.

Overall YB Teresa Kok stated that these efforts were bearing fruit and the Love My Palm Oil Campaign was being actively supported by various business groups with the most recent commitments from Berjaya Corporation emerging at a most timely juncture.

Ministry of Primary Industries
Putrajaya
22 January 2020

SOURCE: MINISTRY OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES (MPI)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name: Siti Hajar Zulkefle
Tel: 03-88803381 / 017-3915951
Fax: 03-88878205
Email: hajarzulkefle@mpi.gov.my

--BERNAMA