BERLIN: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today held a roundtable meeting with German captains of industry.
He also held private meetings with senior management of selected companies as part of his six-day visit to Germany.
The prime minister held court with representatives from almost 40 companies, whose focuses ranged from manufacturing, automotive, aerospace to pharmaceuticals.
They included representatives from Schott AG; Siemens AG; B. Braun; X-Fab Silicon Foundries, Melexis, Volkswagen; Oldenburger Interior; PCC SE; Oryx Stainless; Fresenius; DELO Industries Klebstoffe; Airbus Asia Pacific as well as Airbus Malaysia; Infineon Technology, DHL; Bayer AG and others.
Among those who had private meetings with Anwar included Marc Biron, chief executive officer(CEO) of micro-electric semiconductor company Melexis, and Rudi de Winter, CEO of X-FAB Silicon Foundries, the foundry group for analog/mixed-signal semiconductor applications.
The prime minister, following his meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz at the Federal Chancellery yesterday, had invited more German businesses to capitalise on Malaysia's strategic location in Southeast Asia and solid infrastructure to make the country a preferred investment destination.
Germany, he said, has invested close to US$15 billion (RM70.24b) in Malaysia, citing German companies such as Infineon Technologies AG which have made Malaysia their hub for centres of excellence and training.
Germany has been Malaysia's largest trading partner among European Union members since 2000, while Malaysia is Germany's biggest trading partner in Asean.
In 2023, Malaysia's total trade with Germany rose by 5.9 per cent to RM63.45 billion (US$13.90 billion) compared to RM59.87 billion (US$13.62 billion) in 2022.
Anwar, who is on his maiden visit to Germany and Europe after becoming prime minister, has lined up a series of programmes during his six days in Berlin and Hamburg.
They included meetings with German government leaders, representatives of major businesses as well as captains of industry.