KUALA LUMPUR: About 100 entrepreneurs from China were treated to a simple but lavish dinner hosted by MCA. 

The guests were delegates of the "Belt and Road Initiative: Malaysia-China Business Dialogue" aimed at enabling entrepreneurs from both nations to grab opportunities under the programme. 

They will be in Malaysia for the event held at Wisma MCA from Friday until next Monday. 

At the welcome dinner on Friday night, MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai extended a warm "Selamat Datang" to the guests who came from various parts in China.

He briefed them on development projects in Malaysia including the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed railway plan and the MRT projects. 

Liow, who is also Transport Minister, invited the Chinese to build a third terminal at Port Klang. 

"We plan to expand the port to reach an annual cargo handling capacity of 16.3 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit) by 2020. 

"This is still under discussion but I hope that it will become a reality in the near future," he added. 

Liow said China has become Malaysia's largest trading partner since 2009, while Malaysia is China's biggest trading partner in Asean. 

"I am optimistic that the Belt and Road Initiative will bring fresh momentum to the already vibrant bilateral trade and investment ties of the two countries to achieve a total trade volume of US$160bil (RM654bil) by 2017," he added. 

The dialogue - which emphasised on four themes namely finance, trade and investment; infrastructure and logistics; e-commerce and green industry as well as agricultural products and halal certification - is jointly organised by the China Economic Cooperation Center (CECC). 

A business matching session will also be carried out at the event.

This is the second of such event held since the initiative was launched. 

At the first dialogue attended by some 160 Malaysian businessmen in Beijing last year, seven memoranda, ranging from railway development, bird nest and durian trade, were signed between Malaysia and China. 

Also present at the dinner were China International Liaison Department assistant minister Li Jun and CECC vice-president Wu Baocai. 

Malaysian representatives included MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Malaysia deputy president Tan Sri Lim Sing, Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong) president Tan Sri Pheng Yin Huah and Federation of Seven Clan Associations president Tan Sri Koo Yuen Kim.

-The Star-