International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed arrived in Guangzhou today to begin a three-day trade and investment mission to the province.

His visit is also in conjunction with the 40th anniversary celebration of Malaysia-China bilateral relations.

During his visit, Mustapa will meet the party secretary of Guangdong, Hu Chunhua, and the discussion is expected to evolve around establishing a mechanism to promote greater trade and investment ties between Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou.

He will also be meeting corporate leaders from major companies in Guangzhou to encourage Chinese investment in Malaysia.

Malaysia is seeking to encourage more downstream investments from China via collaboration with local companies, especially small and medium businesses.

Following the trade mission, Mustapa will join Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Xian, Shaanxi province, on May 28.

Several programmes have been arranged for the Prime Minister in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations.

In Xian, Mustapa will explore and encourage exports and trade in the halal industry with the province, which has a significant Muslim population.

The entourage will later move on to Beijing for the main programmes related to the 40th anniversary celebration.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) will be involved in the Malaysia-China Economic Summit in Beijing, co-organised with China's Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) and the Malaysia-China Business Council (MCBC).

Hundreds of Malaysian business leaders will be present at the summit where Mustapa will witness business-to-business memorandums of understanding (MoUs) being exchanged.

He was earlier in Qingdao (Shandong province) on May 17-18, to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation-Ministers Responsible for Trade (Apec-MRT) meeting. China is the chair for Apec this year.

At that time, he met his Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng, and proposed the signing of an MoU on Convergence of the New Maritime Silk Road and Economic and Trade Cooperation (ETC) between Malaysia and China.

Malaysia has acknowledged the significance of these initiatives to further enhance bilateral trade.

The contents of the MoU is currently being discussed and the ministers have agreed that officials from both sides will finalise the text as soon possible.

Economic cooperation between Malaysia and China has grown exponentially in the past 40 years and among notable projects are the "Two Country Twin Park", which lead to the establishment of China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park and Kuantan Industrial Park, while underlining the strong commitment of both countries.

The project has enabled greater maritime connectivity between China and Malaysia and in line with the former's vision to construct a new maritime silk road by building efficient port connectivity to support the regional supply chain.

For the past five consecutive years, China has been Malaysia's single largest trading partner with total trade value exceeding RM320 billion (US$100 billion).

Malaysia, on the other hand, is China largest trading partner among Asean members.

The bilateral trade profile has witnessed a major shift in the past 10 years where commodities are no longer the major source of goods traded, but as much as 50% of trade now comprises manufactured products and other higher value-added goods.

Major exports from Malaysia to China include electrical and electronic products, chemicals and chemical products, palm oil and refined petroleum products.

Major imports from China to Malaysia consist of electrical and electronic products, machinery, appliances and parts, chemicals and chemical products, as well as iron and steel products.