ID :
389557
Tue, 12/01/2015 - 05:11
Auther :

AEC To Further Boost Malaysia-German Relations

By Manik Mehta BERLIN, Dec 1 (Bernama) -- Relations between Malaysia and Germany are poised to intensify through greater economic and business cooperation. In this regard, the Malaysian ambassador to Germany Dato' Zulkifli Adnan said the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), was a historic milestone and would provide a further boost to bilateral relations. Many German experts see Malaysia playing an important role in the AEC's progress, with some others even describing the country as its "fulcrum". "Indeed, Malaysia has all the requisite features to offer itself as a business hub of Southeast Asia," Zulkifli said. Germany, with US$283.02 million (RM1.2 billion) in investments, was the world's sixth largest source of foreign investments in Malaysia from January to September 2015. The country was also the foremost investor from Europe in Malaysia, according to the Frankfurt office of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida). More than 350 German companies have offices in Malaysia, many of them operating production plants and exporting the goods manufactured there worldwide. German companies are also, increasingly, using Malaysia as a regional hub and beyond. "The economic and business sectors are very promising areas for pushing bilateral relations," Zulkifli said. Sensing the strong German interest in the AEC, the ambassador took the initiative to organise a seminar on the "ASEAN Community 2015 and Beyond" in cooperation with the German Foreign Office in Berlin. It was also staged with the support of the ambassadors of the remaining nine ASEAN member states. "We discussed amongst ourselves (the ASEAN ambassadors) the holding of the ASEAN seminar. As you know, we have a Berlin ASEAN Committee (BAC) which formulates a joint approach on a number of issues when dealing with Germany," Zulkifli said. --BERNAMA

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