WASHINGTON, April 15 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak urged Malaysian companies to explore opportunities in the United States even as the government wants to attract more American investors.
Najib, who wants bilateral trade and investments to be beefed up as the two countries recharged relations, said Malaysians can focus on areas which complemented their business activities whether abroad or in Malaysia.
"The direct investments abroad will not only export our products but our skills to expand into new markets and tap new investment. At the same time, I would also like to encourage strong levels of inward reinvestment into Malaysia should you begin to make profits," he said in his keynote address at a trade and investment seminar on trade opportunities in the U.S. here Thursday.
The Prime Minister, on a week-long working visit and to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, also met Thursday two key U.S administration officials, Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
At the seminar hosted at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Najib told his audience of American businessmen and about 30 Malaysian companies top executives, that investments by Malaysian companies abroad had been on an uptrend.
It spiked from US$2.6 billion in 2004 to US$14.3 billion in 2008 and over 400 Malaysian companies had a presence primarily in the Asean region, China, India, Middle East and the European Union.
"Although we are a developing country, Malaysia has reached a stage of industrialisation and development, whereby many Malaysian companies are now investing overseas and where many international companies and investors are seeing opportunities in Malaysia," he said.
Najib said there was growing interest by Malaysian companies towards investing in the U.S. despite the economic crisis and he urged them to step up collaboration with U.S. firms to leverage on their competencies and competitiveness.
Last year, Malaysia's investments in the U.S. totalled US$69.6 million from US$64.4 million a year earlier, vested in areas such as financial intermediation, trade and commerce, agriculture, forestry and fishing.
On the other hand, Malaysia remained a cost-competitive destination for U.S. investments, which totalled US$6.4 billion in the past five years and 663 implemented projects to date worth US$13.5 billion.
"Over the years, existing U.S. investors have also continued to demonstrate a strong level of confidence and commitment to their investment in the country.
This is reflected through their significant reinvestment as well as new investments," he added.
He invited U.S. participation in more economic sectors such as tourism, renewable energy, green technology and financial services under the increasing liberalisation of Malaysia's services sector which would be a key growth driver in the future.
Najib noted that American companies were in the forefront of green technology and solar industry worldwide and he invited them to invest in Malaysia because the two sectors were targeted as growth areas by the government.
He also delivered a gist of the revamped business climate in Malaysia under the New Economic Model unveiled on March 30 to forge a pro-growth relationship between the private and government sectors.
Despite the economic crisis, Malaysia's fundamentals were not only strong but strengthening, said Najib, with growth expected to be over five per cent this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment