Green Business In Malaysia Has Investment Potential, Says Japan Body

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- The Japanese Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) sees environmentally friendly business as a potential area to enhance investment relations between Japan and Malaysia, Kankeiren vice chairman and chairman of its international committee Masayuki Matsushita said. He said among the areas that the federation was keen to encourage its members to venture into were energy savings, energy creation, anti-pollution measures, waste treatment and disaster mitigation. "This (business) mission will encourage more Japanese industries to come to Malaysia to invest," he told reporters after attending a roundtable meeting with the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (NCCIM) here Friday. Matsushita is leading a delegation from Kankeiren on its seven-day trip to the Philippines and Malaysia, which began on Sept 14. Matsushita said several meetings with government agencies including Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) had provided useful information to the organisation and it intended to cooperate with Malaysian authorities to identify the details on the potential investments in this country. Kankeiren was established in 1946 as a non-profit comprehensive economic organisation. It consists of 1,300 members drawn from representative businesses and organisations which pursue economic activities mainly in the Kansai region, located almost at the centre of the Japanese archipelago and comprises six prefectures. Currently, a quarter of the Japanese companies operating in Malaysia is from the Kansai region. --BERNAMA