MANJUNG, June 17 – Vale in Malaysia and InvestPerak jointly organised a visit by five South American ambassadors to the Teluk Rubiah Maritime Terminal (TRMT) today.

The delegation from the embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Peru spent half a day touring the Manjung site which houses Vale’s iron ore distribution centre for the Asia Pacific region.

Chief Executive Officer of Vale in Malaysia, Rodrigo Ribeiro de Araújo said the company set-up operations in Perak in 2011 and has generated over 1,000 jobs for Malaysians.

“Perak is integral to Vale’s supply chain strategy in Asia Pacific – the world’s largest iron ore regional market. TRMT’s strategic geographical location allows us to bring our mines in Brazil closer to our customers in the region.”

“Our operations at TRMT also benefits from Perak infrastructure network, which is adequate and improving. Our direct workforce in TRMT is made up of over 90 percent Perakians, and we have identified the availability of highly skilled talent pool in the state as a core strength.”

“Moving forward, we are keen to share our experience of conducting business in Perak with potential investors from the GRULAC countries. With its investor-friendly climate, the state has the potential to become one of the region’s growth hotspots”, Rodrigo concluded.

InvestPerak Chief Executive Officer Izran bin Abdullah said, “Vale is the largest single source of FDI in the state of Perak, and we look forward to the company’s continuing presence in the state. The track record of productive value creation for Vale in Perak is testament to the state’s ability to generate attractive value proposition for a global corporation”.

Vale’s distribution hub in Manjung is designed to handle 30 million tons of iron ore per annum. Since it began its presence in Perak a decade ago, the company has invested close to MYR60 million on various socioenvironmental and CSR causes in Manjung.

Globally, Vale is committed towards becoming a net zero company by 2050, and has announced investments amounting to USD6 billion to reduce direct and indirect emissions – the largest investment ever undertaken by the mining industry to tackle climate change.