AMCHAM has prepared something special for the U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir. This farewell booklet showcases the Ambassador's time with AMCHAM and also farewell messages and moments from our member companies.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) just released a media statement on their approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic going forward. In this media statement, MITI talks about the impact that the pandemic has brought upon business and the economy as well as what steps are being considered.

The General SOPs for areas undergoing the current Movement Control Order (MCO) have been updated. These updates cover movement of private, Government department or private sector company vehicles, operating hours of food and grocery stores, meetings, social and other activities and an updated list of essential services.

Change of guard! The United States of America enters a new era with the inauguration of its 46th President, Joe Biden. Is this good news for businesses in the ASEAN region, or should we approach with caution? AMCHAM's CEO Siobhan Das will be joining the panel discussion.

Join us in this webinar by Astro AWANI | LINC to discuss the road that lies ahead!

Click HERE to Register

For decades, London property has always been an attractive prospect for both domestic and overseas buyers – but in light of the current COVID-19 landscape how has the London residential market remained so resilient. Join Knight Frank for London: Market Update – An Asia Pacific Perspective on Wednesday, 27 January 2021 at 6PM MYT / SGT as the experts go behind-the-scenes to discuss what is really happening in London’s property market in this time and space.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) in collaboration with Intel Malaysia and Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC)are very happy to announce that we will be conducting the kick-off for the ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR SMEs (AI4S) programme. The program will take place on 27th January 2021 and we would like to welcome members of the public to participate in the event.

EY has released its latest tax alert issue. This issue covers:

Fusion Cloud Supply Chain and Manufacturing (SCM) developer, Oracle has been chosen by Pharmaniaga to enhance the logistics processes for the COVID-19 vaccine distributions in Malaysia. Pharmaniaga will select the Oracle’s SCM as the main drive to execute the distribution process. The company will provide Pharmaniaga the cloud-based logistics platform to automate manual processes, and improve the traceability and security of the cold chain services.

Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad (“Gibraltar BSN”) today, 25 January 2021, announced the appointment of Lee Kok Wah as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Kok Wah was previously the Chief Financial Officer of Gibraltar BSN and succeeds the previous CEO Rangam Bir whose term of tenure ended on 23 January 2021. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Kok Wah has over 38 years of experience in the corporate world, of which 30 years was in the insurance industry.

In collaboration with the EU-funded programme WeEmpowerAsia of UN Women, LeadWomen is inviting 300 Malaysian corporates to expand on their gender diversity efforts by joining the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Activator Malaysia Campaign. The Awareness Sessions will bring a wider consciousness of the WEPs and identify your companies’ strengths, gaps, and determine opportunities to improve their performance on gender equality.

Pear Anderson has been keeping track of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Southeast Asian travel industry. This is the latest update as of January 24, 2021. Indonesia is appointed to lead the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Task Force, with work expected to be completed by Q1 end. Laos and Myanmar both receive vaccine batches - ahead of other wealthier ASEAN nations, such as Thailand and Malaysia.

For some time now, there has been talk about how leaders developing AI applications need to build “fair AI”; this should be unbiased and equitable, ideally improving the quality of life of everyone it touches. However, most of the thinking around ethical AI has been focused around models, explainability, technical teams and data governance. But how about considering basic fairness in the AI development lifecycle? This lifecycle is immense.