Penang Dialogue 2021

AMCHAM today held its annual signature event – the Penang Dialogue. For the second time, it was held virtually and brought together business and thought leaders together for a dialogue on doing business in Malaysia’s Northern region. This year’s theme centered around Malaysia’s reopening to a rapidly changing world. As the vaccination rates reach most of the population, Malaysia stands to reaffirm its position as a trading nation. Will Malaysia be able to continue to build upon past successes or lose out to its competing neighbors?

Special guests H.E Brian McFeeters, U.S Ambassador to Malaysia and YAB Chow Kon Yeow, Chief Minister of Penang graced our event once again. The opening by Greg Poling and Bill Reinsch, Center for Strategic & International Studies set the stage for this year’s theme.

The first panel discussion was on what encourages Malaysia to be the preferred investment destination, a session that really highlighted the strengths that Malaysia brings to the table. This session featured Joe Christofanelli, Ernst & Young; Columba Mcgarvey, Dexcom Malaysia Sdn. Bhd; and Mark Arthun, Smith & Nephew; moderated by Zainal Amanshah Bin Zainal Arshad, Aecom Perunding Sdn Bhd.

Attendees of the Penang Dialogue 2021 also had the opportunity to engage with our special guests – the U.S Ambassador to Malaysia as well as the Chief Minister of Penang during the dialogue session., where topics addressed include the issues currently faced and what Penang can do moving forward to attract more investment.

Dr. Mohamed Aly, Founder & CEO, Seeloz presented on the use of AI in the manufacturing process for supply chains. He then proceeded to join fellow panellists, Cash McCracken, Seagate Technology, Dr. Mohamed Aly, Seeloz, Dato P’ng Soo Hong, First Solar Malaysia, Sumit Ray, Dell for the final panel discussion of the day, moderated by Alex Capri, Bower Group Asia.

Special thanks to all our speakers for the insightful discussions and to our sponsors – HP, Motorola Solutions, Microsoft, SMART Modular Technologies, First Solar, Haskell, NI, Nolato, Dell, Technologies, In-Tech Electronics, Knowles Electronics, Plexus Manufacturing, Keysight Technologies, Sanmina and Smith+Nephew for making this event a success.