Najib meets captains of industry to discuss economy

(Bernama) – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak held a high-profile business dialogue with 30 prominent chief executive officers (CEOs) here today to discuss the current economic situation.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, described the Business Leaders Dialogue as timely to seek views to overcome the current global economic challenges in Malaysia.

The dialogue, among others, was to discuss immediate measures to restore confidence and stabilise the nation’s economy, he said.

Among those present were AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Telekom Malaysia Group CEO Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, Public Bank Managing Director Tan Sri Tay Ah Lek and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd Group Chief Executive Tengku Datuk Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Malaysia Airports Holding Bhd Managing Director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.

Also present were Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, Securities Commission Malaysia Chairman Datuk Ranjit Ajit Singh and TalentCorp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican.

“I am looking forward to hear from you on how to work together with the public and private sectors to strengthen our economy. Most certainly, it is most serious consideration by the government,” Najib said before chairing the dialogue session at Perdana Putra here.

Najib was hopeful the dialogue would give the country a fresh momentum to move forward.

“Not only what we can do immediately, but also for the forthcoming Budget that will be presented next month, Oct 23,” he said.

Najib said the pro-active economy measures, which were unveiled last Monday, were based on the recommendations by the Special Economic Committee and were well-received by the market in a very positive way.

Meanwhile, a statement from TalentCorp said the Business Leaders Dialogue would also discuss the TalentCorp-PwC Diversity in the Workplace 2015 Survey.

The survey showed listed companies in the financial services and fast-moving consumers goods sectors had achieved the government’s 30 per cent of women in top management.

It said 31 per cent of listed companies surveyed had no women board member, 19 per cent had no women in top management, 24 per cent had no ethnic diversity in top management and 31 per cent had no board members below the age of 50 years old.