Published: Friday September 21, 2012 MYT 3:24:00 PM

M’sia wants more investment from China in key economic sectors

NANNING: Malaysia is opening its doors wide open to Chinese investors to explore the numerous investment opportunities in key economic sectors.

Presenting Malaysia's investment prospects at a business roundtable attended by leading Chinese industrialists here Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said electrical and electronics, financial services, wholesale and retail, infrastructure and tourism were the attractive sectors for Chinese investors to participate.

"I would like to reiterate the Malaysian government's commitment to ensuring that Malaysia will remain a profitable destination for foreign companies.

"We would very much like you to play a key role in our economic transformation agenda," he said.

Muhyiddin said Malaysia took cognisance of China for continuing to attract global foreign direct investments (FDIs) while, at the same, Beijing had emerged as a major FDI source in recent years.

In 2010, China was the sixth largest source of FDI outflows globally, amounting to US$68bil.

"We see this trend continuing, with China's state-owned enterprises taking the lead in the global mergers and acquisitions. We believe Malaysia offers attractive investment opportunities in some focus areas," he said.

Muhyiddin also assured Chinese investors, who are currently finalising their investment plans in Malaysia, that the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) would provide the assistance in project implementation.

Inviting the Chinese industrialists, Muhyiddin told the forum that Malaysia remained a cost-competitive and viable location for FDIs amidst the challenging external environment and intense global competition.

Sharing Malaysia's achievements at the forum, he said, the total foreign investments approved last year rose by 36.7 percent to US$46.9bil as compared with US$34.3bil in 2010. "Our growth formula is premised upon a strong and effective partnership between the public and private sectors, with the government facilitating businesses by ensuring a business-friendly framework," he said.

On approved investments, Muhyiddin said China was the eighth largest foreign investor in the manufacturing sector last year, investing US$376mil, up 81.2 percent from 2010.

He said the investments were mainly in basic metal, transport, machinery and equipment, fabricated metal and non-metallic mineral products.

For the first six months of this year, US$71.2mil worth of manufacturing projects from China were approved, he said.

The deputy prime minister told the meeting that Malaysia also received significant investments from China amounting to more than US$6bil.

Some of the major investments were in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trading, agriculture, leasing and business services and information technology services sectors. - Bernama

More News