This is due to the launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), a powerful economic and trading block serving the South-East Asian (SEA) market, in January next year.

“The SEA market, with about 600 million consumers, has a large industry base that can offer good investment opportunities for the global mining players to tap into the region, which is rich in mineral resources such as gold, tin, iron ore and copper,” he told StarBiz recently.

Ajib, the former Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd group chief executive officer, was recently appointed as the new president of the Asean Federation of Mining Associations (AFMA) for a two-year period effective Oct 29.

He said, “We believe 2015 will be a landmark year where the integration of AEC will kickstart and AFMA can be the prime mover in such an integration process, particularly within Asean’s mining and mineral resource sector.”

AFMA, which will celebrate its 30th year of official establishment next year, comprises of four founding members: the Malaysian Chamber of Mines (MCOM), the Indonesian Mining Association (IMA), the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines and the Mining Industry Council of Thailand, as well as the Lao Mining Association, the Cambodian Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, and the Myanmar Federation of Mining Association.

The primary objectives of AFMA are fostering cooperation and mutual assistance among the members, promoting the dissemination and exchange of information on the mineral policies, laws and regulations of member countries and fostering research and studies of subjects relevant to the mineral industry, adopting measures to protect the mineral industry in SEA.

Its other objectives include providing updates on new or advanced mining techniques and technologies, establishing and maintaining relations with other international mining bodies, and representing the region’s mineral industry at international conferences.

Ajib took over the AFMA reign from Martiono Hadianto, the IMA chairman.

Also appointed as AFMA new secretary-general was Muhamad Nor Muhamad, who is currently MCOM executive director replacing Syahrir AB, the IMA executive director.

Source: bloomberg.com