Business

Tuesday April 28, 2009

Hi-tech opportunity for British investors

By CHOI TUCK WO


Mustapha: Malaysia is business, foreign investor friendly

LONDON: Malaysia has invited British companies to invest in high value-added, knowledge-intensive and high-technology industries in the country.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapha Mohamad said among the areas of collaboration were aerospace, information and communications technology (ICT), and electrical and electronics sectors.

He urged investors to seize the opportunities available in Malaysia in the wake of reports by the World Bank and IMF that Asian economies would be the first to recover from the global financial crisis.

“We offer a pro-active government that is business and foreign investor friendly,” he said in his keynote address at the Trade & Investment Opportunities in Malaysia seminar yesterday.

Mustapha said Malaysia was a viable location for the manufacturing of aircraft components and the maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft for the regional and global markets.

He said among the foreign companies in those sectors were BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, Stress Analysis & Design Engineering and Spirit Aero Systems.

“British aerospace companies should take advantage of the Malaysia International Aerospace Centre to turn the country into a regional aerospace centre by 2015,” he added.

Mustapha also said Malaysia was promoting new products and technologies in the ICT sector, especially those using wireless and convergence technology.

He urged Britain to invest in areas such as telecommunication equipment, optical fibres, synthesis equipment as well as new generation networking and digital equipment.

He added that Malaysia’s electrical and electronic products were the main exports to Britain last year, totalling US$1.19bil and accounting for 41.9% of the total exports.

He also said Malaysian banks remained well capitalised with ample liquidity, enabling them to continue lending even in times of uncertainties.

Britain remained Malaysia’s third largest trading partner in the European Union last year, with total trade amounting to US$5.14bil.

Today, Mustapha will fly to Munich, Germany where he is scheduled to meet senior executives in BMW, Infineon and Osram to discuss investment opportunities in Malaysia.

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