KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and countries in the African continent must further develop trade between the two parties and double trade to US$16 billion (RM67.2 billion) by 2021.
Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamed said that the 2015 trade of US$8 billion (RM33.6 billion) was far too small in light of the African continent's more than a billion population.
He said, in comparison, Malaysia's trade with China which also had a population of one billion people was US$100 billion (RM420 billion) annually.
Mustapa was speaking at the launch of the two-day Africa Business Day here today.
The event features business seminars, workshops, one-to-one business meetings and networking sessions between Malaysian and African businesses.