Najib hoping for more FDI from China for mutual benefit

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has expressed hope for more foreign direct investment (FDI) to be pumped into Malaysia from China for the benefit of both countries.

 

While he thanked the Chinese government for supporting Malaysian companies, Najib said the amount of FDI from China was not as much as the FDI from Malaysia into the Asian economic giant.

"As of 2012, Malaysia's cumulative FDI into China stands at USD6.3bil (RM20.05bil).

"The cross flow from China to Malaysia however, is a fraction of that," he said in his speech at the Malaysia-China Economic Summit at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Friday.

Najib said Malaysia looked forward to further investment in the future, as it continued to explore business opportunities in China and carry out reforms.

"We also laud the ongoing initiatives to facilitate further trade, including our bilateral currency swap arrangement agreement.

"Malaysia is the first country outside China to use Renminbi and our central bank is the first in Asean to hold Renminbi reserves," he said, adding that 2.3% of world trade settled in the Chinese currency was done in Malaysia.

Najib said more should be done to deepen and promote this particular monetary cooperation.

He said China president Xi Jinping's visit to Malaysia showed the solid bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Najib said he was honoured when Xi told him that meeting him was like the Chinese saying "yi jian ru gu", which meant feeling like old friends even at the first glance.

On another note, he said he was also pleased that Malaysia was given the privilege of hosting the first Chinese university outside of China - the Xiamen University Malaysia Campus.

"With an investment of approximately RM1.2bil, the 150-acre (60.702ha) university will accommodate 10,000 students and mark another milestone in our bilateral cooperation in education," Najib said.

During the event, Najib and Xi witnessed the signing ceremony of several government-to-government agreements including a five year programme for economic and trade cooperation.

Meanwhile, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia is targeting to get 5% of China's USD500bil (RM1.588 trillion) outbound investment over the next five years.


He said Malaysia was also hoping to lure 5% of 80 million tourists from China searching for a suitable holiday destination.


"With its USD500bil set to flow into other countries, China will be an important investment source for us," he said in a press conference after the Malaysia-China Economic Summit at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Friday.


Mustapa said the huge potential offered by China was something that should be looked into by the Ministry, Malaysian Investment Development Authority and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation.


He said China's investment into Malaysia was less than the other way around.


"Currently, China's investment into our country is only about 10% of the USD6.3bil (RM20.05bil) of what Malaysia invested in China," Mustapa said.


Asked what were the reasons for the imbalanced invest flow of investments, he said this was because Malaysian businessmen were very knowledgeable and attuned into the Chinese market.


"Another reason is the high speed of development experienced by China. There are a lot of opportunities for growth there," he said.


Mustapa said Malaysia hoped that the China's industry players would invest in the services and manufacturing sectors here.

On trying to draw more tourist arrivals from China, he said if Malaysia can receive 5% of the 80 million outbound Chinese tourists, it would bring significant benefits to the nation.

(Source: The Star Online)