Entrepreneurs Promote Handicraft Products At NAM-CoB Exhibition
Bernama
PUTRAJAYA, May 26 (Bernama) — Local handicraft entrepreneurs, in efforts to draw foreign investors, are taking the opportunity to promote their products at the Non-Aligned Movement Coordinating Bureau (NAM-CoB) Ministerial Meeting which starts here tomorrow.
The Melaka branch of the Malaysian Handicraft Corporation is among the organisations that have set up booths at the exhibition held in conjunction with the four-day meeting at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here.
Its designer, Ruziyati Garan, said Friday that entrepreneurs in Melaka produced high quality handicraft items from metal, ceramics, textiles and rattan which were well-received by local and foreign tourists.
“An entrepreneur had once received orders for over 100,000 units from a buyer,” she told Bernama at the corporation’s booth.
Ruziyati said that through international conferences like NAM CoB, the corporation could promote products of entrepreneurs from Melaka among the delegates and foreign visitors.
She hoped that besides the delegates, investors from the NAM countries would take the opportunity to invest in the products.
The corporation provided technical assistance and training for entrepreneurs keen to develop their businesses, she added.
Besides the corporation, Putrajaya Holdings, Alamanda Putrajaya, Proton Edar, Naza Ria and Bernama, Tourism Malaysia are also aggressively promoting the “Visit Malaysia Year 2007″ Programme, which is filled with various events to celebrate the country’s 50th anniversary of independence, at the exhibition.
The small cottage industries like the Unikraf Desa group from Sungai Lang, Banting, were also not left out.
Run by six housewives, Unikraf Desa produces decorative items from natural materials like corn sheath, banana skin and trunk and rubber seed and leaf.
Its coordinators, Samiah Senan and Latifah Ngadiran, said they hoped to introduce their products at the international level at the exhibition to attract a wider market.
Another attraction at the exhibition was ceramic handicraft items like water containers and vases produced by the Ceramic Common Facilities Centre (CFC), a special project by the Perak State Economic Corporation, to provide support service and technology related to the ceramic industry in the state.
The products using local clay were able to compete with ceramic products from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, a CFC spokesman said.
– BERNAMA