Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	PANDAMARAN, KELANG, SELANGOR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	12/11/92 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OPENING CEREMONY OF KRIS SAFETY 
			FOOTWEAR SDN BHD 



 
    It gives me great pleasure for being invited to jointly
officiate  the opening ceremony of Kris Safety Footwear Sdn.
Bhd. together with His Excellency, The President of Chile.
2.   I am delighted that  the  joint-venture  agreement  for
this  safety  shoe factory which was signed in Santiago last
year between the Malaysian and Chilean partners of this com-
pany has materialised.   The speedy implementation  of  this
project is indeed commendable.
3.   Today,  we see the fruition of our Government's call to
strengthen South-South ties and this is  the  first  Chilean
investment  not  only  in Malaysia but also in the ASEAN re-
gion.
4.   Although this is not a particularly  large  project  in
terms of quantum of investment, it is nevertheless a signif-
icant  and  meaningful one.  Sometimes it is better to start
in a small way and Kris Safety Footwear is  a  good  example
that  international  business cooperation is not always lim-
ited to large multinationals.
5.   I understand that Kris  Safety  Footwear  will  produce
leather  safety  shoes of the highest quality and am pleased
to note that the whole of next years's production  has  been
booked  and  committed  for  export, initially to Europe and
North America while the future markets will be in the  Asia-
Pacific  region.  This is a move in the right direction, and
as developing nations become more industrialise the require-
ments for safety shoes in factories will be greater.
6.   To the Chilean business community strongly  represented
here  today,  I would once again, like to invite you to par-
ticipate positively in establishing business ventures  on  a
joint-venture  basis  in  line with our national development
policy.
7.   To our Malaysian businessmen, I would encourage you not
to miss this golden opportunity to interact with our friends
from Chile  and  lay  the  firm  foundation  for  Malaysia's
progress towards a developed nation status by 2020.
8.   I   would   like  in  conclusion  to  wish  this  first
Malaysian-Chilean joint-venture all the best in the future.