BEIJING, Sept 16 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian minister proposes that Malaysianand Chinese businessmen jointly produced their own local brand ofcosmetics using Malaysian-produced palm oleo as its base raw materials.

Primary Industries Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who made theproposal in his speech at the Malaysia-China Business Forum at the GreatHall of the People here on Tuesday, had even suggested that the locallyproduced cosmetics line be named "Sawit".

"Malaysia would not mind if China holds 90 percent control over the jointproduction as long as they use Malaysian palm oleo to make the products,"he said to the applause of some 400 corporate captains from China andMalaysia attending the one-day forum.

He said this could be an alternative to the expensive Italian- orFrench-made cosmetics that China had been importing.

"It does not matter if the cosmetics are `cheap' now as we can raise theprice and quality later on," he said and stressed a point on the potentialand the opportunities that could arise from Malaysian palm oil andresource-based industries.

He said the oil palm industry in Malaysia, with its 3.6 million hectaresof plantations, produced over 11.9 million tonnes of oil and 90 milliontonnes of biomass annually.

"In this respect, in the oil palm clusters, oleo-chemicals and theutilisation of oil palm biomass for the production of value-added productshave been identified as potential for growth in the country," he said.

Health Minister, Datuk Chua Jui Meng, who also spoke at the forum, saidMalaysia was offering the Chinese its service in the medical tourismsector.

He said Malaysia's strength in this field rested on its 33 modern Westernhospitals with specialist and sub-specialist services and a culture ofgood hospitality and friendliness.

Chua said the services offered by Malaysia in the health sector were alsocost effective.

He invited the Chinese investors to invest in joint-ventures with theMalaysians to open up traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in Malaysia,a system of medicine which China had the expertise and a 5,000-yearhistory.

The menteris besar of Johor and Pahang and the chief ministers of Penangand Melaka had their own sessions to talk on investment opportunities inthe state.

The Malaysia-China Business Forum was jointly organised by The AsianStrategy & Leadership Institute (Asli) and the China Chamber ofInternational Commerce and China Council for Promotion of InternationalTrade (CCPIT) in conjunction with Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk SeriAbdullah Badawi's visit to China beginning Sunday.

Abdullah also delivered a keynote address on "China, Challenge andOpportunity" at the forum.

-- BERNAMA