This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 15, 2017 - May 21, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor will play host to a 10-day business event in September at the Setia City Convention Centre in Shah Alam, which is aimed at positioning the state as a global business and trading hub, especially in becoming the gateway to Asean.

Slated to be the biggest business event to be held in the country, the Selangor International Business Summit 2017 is scheduled for Sept 7 to Sept 17.

“The Selangor International Business Summit 2017 will be an important event in Selangor’s trade and investment calendar — as more efforts are being placed on high-tech and capital incentives industries to enable both the private and public sectors to work in sync towards making Selangor a ‘smart state’,” said Selangor senior executive councillor Datuk Teng Chang Khim in a statement.

It will comprise three main components, kicking off with the Selangor Smart City & Future Commerce Convention 2017 from Sept 7 to Sept 9. This will be followed by the Selangor-Asean Business Conference on Sept 11 and Sept 12 and the Selangor International Expo 2017 from Sept 14 to Sept 17.

Teng said the state government, via Invest Selangor Bhd, has organised the Selangor International Expo since 2015, which had attracted a large number of business community members including those from China and the Asean, the Middle East and European regions.

“It has been successful in positioning Selangor as a global trading hub, creating platforms for local and foreign multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services, becoming a perfect avenue for marketing, collaborations and partnerships, and providing exposure and information on the latest technologies,” he said.

“Thus, [it is] the reason why we have decided to make it bigger this year by adding two other components to separate the future commerce industries, conferences and trade exhibition and to enable participants and visitors to have more focus on each of the components,” Teng added.

Last year’s expo attracted 373 companies from 15 regions, which took up 525 booths, and 10,689 visitors. About RM100 million transactions were recorded during the event.

The first component of this year’s summit, The Selangor Smart City and Future Commerce Convention 2017, is a global event about how smart and digital technologies are transforming cities around the world and future commerce changing the digital revolution in Selangor.

“Together with former deputy mayor of Barcelona Antoni Vives, who has been in charge of the city’s smart city development and urban habitat in Barcelona, we bring together experts and practitioners from the leading cities and countries in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Eurasia and Europe to share insights into the prospects of digital urban future and the world’s leading smart city experiences,” said Teng.

The Selangor-Asean Business Conference 2017 will feature international speakers from key industries such as food and beverage, life sciences and biotechnology. This will include a one-day site visit to Selangor’s Halal Hub and Selangor Bio Bay in Pulau Indah.

The conference would also include an international golf tournament where the Raja Muda of Selangor has agreed to grace the event and an award ceremony where Selangor-born entrepreneurs or those who have their businesses in Selangor for several years will be awarded for their achievements.

“As Malaysia’s largest economy [and] the most progressive state, Selangor enjoys highly developed infrastructure, [an] advanced commercial ecosystem and a well-established investment haven backed by excellent state government support to help [the] business community do their businesses here,” said Teng.

Last year, Selangor outperformed its RM6 billion target, achieving investments of RM7.88 billion in the manufacturing sector, a slight decrease from RM7.96 billion in 2015.