Malaysia Confident Bilateral Investment Imbalances With China Can Be Narrowed

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is confident the investment imbalance with China can be narrowed soon if it continues to engage Chinese enterprises not only from big cities, but also from the second- and third-tier cities like Chengdu and Nanning. Minister of International Trade and Industry, Mustapa Mohamed, said the government must work hard to attract more Chinese investments. He said although there were several well-known Chinese financial institutions here, such as Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, as well as in the infrastructure sector, the Chinese investment, especially in Malaysia's non-financial sector, was relatively modest. "Malaysia has nearly US$6 billion worth of investments in China, while China invested only about US$500 million here," Mustapa said in a special luncheon address at the third World Chinese Economic Forum here on Thursday. However, Mustapa said, there was growing interest in Chinese investments as the Chinese investors were now more eager to come out as well as change their attitudes towards overseas investments. "In the past, they (Chinese investors) were in the construction and resource-based industry, but more needs to be done to woo manufacturing investment," he said. Mustapa said the Chinese investors were strong in Malaysia's construction sector such as the Second Penang Bridge, Mengkuang Dam and double-tracking project. He said Malaysia would also make good use of its close contacts with major Chinese banks to help develop the country as an investment hub for Asean. Mustapa said Malaysia was taking three major initiatives to engage the Chinese more effectively, adding, his ministry was committed to undertake more investment and trade missions to China, at least twice a year, to woo businesses and officials in different provinces. Other initiatives included the newly-established Malaysia-China Economic Cooperation Working Group (ECWG) to identify various bilateral cooperation projects in nine areas including halal, industrial park, tourism, wholesale and retail, he said. The ECWG, which consists of senior government officials from both countries, will draw up a five-year development programme by the middle of next year for implementation. He said the third initiative was that Malaysia and China would work closely to ensure the successful establishment of the Malaysia-China Qinzhou Industrial Park, which would be the first iconic project for both countries to symbolise the growing cooperation. This was the commitment made by Prime Minister Najib Razak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when both of them met in Nanning two weeks ago. On bilateral trade, Mustapa said, both countries had reaffirmed their commitment to double the value within five years following the implementation of several bilateral initiatives. "Among them are the bilateral agreement on expanding and deepening trade and investment cooperation concluded in April and the establishment of the Malaysia-China Qinzhou Industrial Park project," he said. Trade between Malaysia and China totalled US$45.6 billion last year. Mustapa said China trade accounted for almost 20 per cent of Malaysia's foreign trade in the first eight months of this year, adding, the country enjoyed good growth in trade with China. -- BERNAMA Malaysia