India, Malaysia Bilateral Trade Will Continue To Flourish, Says Minister Ahmad Maslan

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 (Bernama) -- Indian investors continue to place confidence in Malaysia's investment climate and this is evident from the nearly US$300 million (US$1 = RM4.43) worth of investments approved for eight manufacturing projects last year. Malaysian Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ahmad Maslan said Prime Minister Najib Razak's recent trip to India had further enhanced bilateral trade between both countries. "One of the highlights of the visit was the signing of 31 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs), with investments worth RM160 billion. "It was the largest business-to-business MoU signing, in terms of number and value, witnessed by a Malaysian Prime Minister," he said at the Indo-Malaysia Seminar here Wednesday. The MoUs were related to various projects such as port and highway construction, solar power plant, development of smart city and technology park, regasification terminal project and coconut & palm oil development, among others. Ahmad added that trade between Malaysia and India from 2003 to 2015 had more than quadrupled, making Malaysia the country's second largest investor from ASEAN. Moving forward, the deputy minister said there was still plenty of room for expansion, adding that Malaysia and India should strive to achieve the US$15 billion bilateral trade target in the next two to three years. "Based on the strong foundation and positive development between Malaysia and India, I am confident our trade and investments will continue to flourish," he added. --BERNAMA