GEORGE TOWN: Despite the challenging economic environment, investors particularly those who are already here, continue to invest, expand and diversify their projects in the country.
"Malaysia’s highly diversified economy, strong manufacturing foundation, developed infrastructure and connectivity, proactive government policies and multilingual workforce are among the reasons investors continue to view Malaysia as their profit centre," Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed told a media conference held at the Equatorial Hotel, Penang, today.
"The disruptive and radical changes due to digital evolution have affected the way businesses are conducted," he noted.
"The closure of many other labour intensive industries, be it in electrical and electronics or in automotive, is not unexpected. Such industries, in many ways, have lost its comparative and competitive advantages."
Malaysia, Mustapa added, continues to be a preferred location for investments as reflected by the performance of the country's approved investments in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors in the first quarter of 2016.
Malaysia recorded a total of 1,271 projects with investments of RM37.3 billion. These investments will create 39,990 job opportunities. Approved investments last year provided 180,240 new job opportunities.
"Some of companies recently made announcements on the advanced stages of their projects, " Mustapa said.
Among them include Haemonetics, Osram Opto Semiconductor, UMW Rolls Royce, lnfineon, X-Fab Sarawak, Oncogen Pharma, Honeywell, Schmidt + Clemens (S+C), Abbott, Boston Scientific, KLS Martin, JCY Group, HP and Coca-Cola.
These companies," he added, "will create more than 6,000 employment opportunities for Malaysians and are expected to generate RM4.1 billion of exports annually."
Taking cognisant of the global economic scenario, Penang for example, continues to be among the top five recipients of approved investments in the manufacturing sector for 2015. Last year, Penang saw a total of RM6.7 billion approved investments from 107 manufacturing projects, which will create 18,730 job opportunities, said Mustapa.
He pointed out that despite the closures of some manufacturing companies in Penang, the state continues to attract investments in various industries.
"For the first quarter of this year, Penang attracted approved investments of RM 1.34 billion in 27 manufacturing projects.
"There are 34 projects more in the pipeline - investments of RM1.67 billion and these projects are in the E&E, medical devices, machinery and equipment, along with the chemical and chemical products sectors," Mustapa said.
Prior to the media conference, Mustapa had a dialogue with some industry players in Penang, Organised by the Malaysian investment Development Authority (MIDA).
Also present was MIDA's deputy chief executive officer Datuk Phang Ah Tong.