NANNING: MALAYSIAN Investment Development Authority (Mida)’s Beijing office is seeking Chinese companies to invest, value-add and delve into research and development (R&D)-based businesses in Malaysia.
Director Mohd Zukepli Embong said this was a great platform for Mida to engage and disseminate the right information to China’s potential investors.
“China has advanced R&D capabilities, which will strengthen the sectors and boost value-added production, that will increase revenue in the long term.
“We are not looking for investments in labour-intensive industry and low-quality production in the manufacturing sector,” he said on the sidelines of the Malaysia National Promotion Conference, at the 13th China-Asean Expo (Caexpo), here, yesterday.
Mida investment consul Ruzlisham Mat Diah, Perak Investment Management Centre investment (InvestPerak) promotion manager Ahmad Shahir Abdul Aziz, Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority president and chief executive Datuk Modh Yaakub Johari and East Coast Economic Region Development Council investment management division senior manager Sea Kah Jin were also present at the event.
Ahmad Shahir hopes to see more collaborations between Malaysian and Chinese companies not only in the manufacturing sector, but also in agriculture, tourism and aquaculture.
“Through Caexpo, we hope we can attract more Chinese investors to invest in Perak and iron and steel industry is one of the sectors that we introduced to the audience of this conference.
“We want investors to take advantage of our existing valleys to produce high-quality steel product.
Currently, Malaysia still imports quality steel because the steel produced in Malaysia is recycled steel, which is low-quality steel,” said Ahmad Shahir.
He added that high-quality iron ore was needed in Perak to produce high-quality steel.
“We already have Vale Malaysia Minerals Sdn Bhd in Teluk Rubiah that brings quality iron ore from Brazil and make Perak as distribution hub.
“We encourage steel mill companies to invest in the state and produce high-quality steel products, like slabs, blooms and billets,” said Ahmad Shahir.
He said feedback from the Chinese investors had been positive and they were interested to invest in Perak.
The four-day expo will advance mutual investments between China and Asean countries in the key areas of industrial capacity cooperation and equipment manufacturing.
China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner since 2009. Last year, total bilateral trade stood at RM230.9 billion.