15/09/2011 (Bernama) - The demand for Malaysian products by China is still strong despite the increasing inflation rate in the world's second largest economy, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai.

As of August, China's inflation rate stood at 6.2 per cent.

He said demand for conventional Malaysian products such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), palm oil, timber, electric and electronic products and rubber was still high.

"It is driven by demand from the local industries. China has become our largest trading partner over the last two years and trade between the two countries for last year exceeded more than US$50 billion (US$1 = RM3).

"This year, we expect it to grow at a rate of close to 20 per cent.

"At the moment, there are no signs of decreasing imports from Malaysia to China," he told reporters here today.

Lim was speaking after witnessing the Letter of Intent (LOI) signing ceremony between the Securities Commission (SC) and China's Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management.

He said besides the conventional products, Malaysia is looking to participate in the non-conventional areas such as the financial sector, which is rapidly growing in the country.

The SC today embarked on a collaboration with Tsinghua University to develop an annual five-day Malaysia-China Financial Programme.

This is a programme for senior executives from Malaysia to gain an insight into China's financial sector as well as better understand the financial regulations of the country.

The three-year commitment begins with an inaugural session in Beijing from Oct 17-21.