Miti Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz
SUBANG JAYA: The Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) is currently working on an initiative to streamline the roles and functions of all Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) in Malaysia.
According to Miti Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, the ministry is tasked with streamlining and realigning the IPA landscape and will come out with a plan soon.
“The National Investment Council has acknowledged the external threats to Malaysia’s competitiveness and has entrusted Miti with the responsibility of enhancing the ease of doing business for investors by streamlining and realigning the IPA landscape,” Tengku Zafrul said in his speech at the Proton Holdings Bhd and Aapico Hitech Public Co Ltd business partnership announcement.
This confirms a StarBizWeek report over the weekend that it was of utmost importance for the country to embark on a nationwide consolidation and streamlining exercise of its IPAs to better attract and keep foreign and domestic investments under the New Investment Policy.
While the core goal of the consolidation strategies for the IPAs is to save public funds in a more efficient manner, a government source noted that there are multi-fold challenges that arise from having many agencies that are competing for investments.
Malaysia has in total 31 IPAs, including the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) and federal location agencies such as InvestKL, state location agencies and federal sector agencies that are looking to secure investments.
Meanwhile, the five investment corridors are the East Coast Economic Region, Northern Corridor Economic Region, Iskandar Malaysia, Sabah Development Corridor and Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy.
“Today (Monday) I met with the IPAs. In Malaysia, we have 31 IPAs and all of them have managed to facilitate investments by themselves.
“But now we want to have a more coordinated approach because we want to market Malaysia as one. This is the message we want to send,” Tengku Zafrul said on the sidelines of the event.
“The discussions with the IPAs I had was to talk about how we can make transformational changes to ensure that Malaysia remains competitive. We are still at a highly competitive level but we don’t want to be complacent, as neighbouring countries are moving ahead very fast.
“So it is important these IPAs and Mida work closely with consistent messaging. Once we get these investors, we have to ensure the ease of doing business is there,” he added.
Tengku Zafrul said it was necessary to coordinate and combine all of these to secure more investments, adding that the meeting yesterday was a brainstorming session.
“The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will chair the National Investment Council at the end of this month.
“In the first meeting, one of the issues we will discuss is how to refocus, restrategise and streamline these activities so that the process will encourage more investments into the country,” Tengku Zafrul said.
“Ultimately, our focus is to provide investors, both foreign and domestic, with a simple and seamless journey facilitated by clear roles and responsibilities of each approving authority,” he added.
Tengku Zafrul said while this initiative had just begun, he would like to invite both existing and new investors to share their experience and suggestions on how the government can eliminate pain points and vastly improve investors’ journey in Malaysia.
“We at Miti are always open to constructive feedback. Looking ahead, with better, streamlined processes and improved investor journey, Miti and its agencies will be better equipped to position Malaysia as a truly pro-investment, pro-trade and pro-industry destination,” Tengku Zafrul said.
Meanwhile, he said the weakening ringgit had little effect in the short term in attracting investment inflows since these investments are longer term in nature.
“It takes a while before a company decides to invest in Malaysia and it takes another 12 to 18 months to actually complete, for example, a building of a manufacturing plant.
“Investors like these will take a longer-term horizon. I think the strength of the ringgit will be determined by their view of our economic fundamentals,” Tengku Zafrul said.
“Fluctuation in currency is short term in nature but they will take a long-term view. Based on my talks with investors, what is important is after factoring all these volatilities such as currency, there should be continuous and consistent policies with a good talent pool to support their growth,” he added.
Earlier at the event, Thailand’s largest auto parts company Aapico said it will invest RM140mil to produce components together with Proton.
This will be done through its subsidiary, Advance Vehicle Engineering Global Sdn Bhd (AVEE Global) to produce dies, jigs, hot stamping parts, body assembled parts and chassis components, it said in a statement.
The collaboration will see Aapico acquiring 60% of AVEE Global from Proton, with the latter retaining a 40% share in the company that will eventually be renamed Aapico Avee Sdn Bhd, it said.
Aapico will make an initial investment of RM40mil into AVEE Global’s 20-acre facility with plans for further expansion to cater to the growing demand for Proton vehicles and the overall automotive sector.
Another RM100mil in investment is planned for 2024 that would go towards plant extensions and the acquisition of new machinery, it said.
“We aim to bring our expertise and manufacturing technology into the partnership and deliver world-class auto parts to Proton and support its expansion plans in both the domestic and export market,” Aapico president and chief executive officer Yeap Swee Chuan said.
