Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s trade performance continues to improve, driven bydifferent investments including domestic direct investments (DDI) and foreigndirect investments (FDI), said the country's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry(MITI).
Speaking with thepress after delivering a speech at the Australian Network Leaders’ Summit 2023on July 2, MITI minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz said that the good performancebenefited not only from the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), but also from various types of agreement, namely multilateral agreement, free trade agreement (FTA) and the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).
A total of 18 FTAshave been signed so far, showing that trade continues to increase and thesetrade agreements help local exporters access the international market.
The minister notedthat in the first half of 2023, the country secured committed investmentsfrom four countries worth 230 billion RM (49 billion USD).
The four countries areSingapore (13 billion RM), the Republic of Korea (24 billion RM), China (170RM), and Japan (23 RM).
He affirmed that theresult is a testament to the confidence foreign investors have in Malaysia,which helps policymakers unlock numerous opportunities for corporates, smalland medium enterprises and the locals across various sectors.
Malaysia’s approvedinvestments in the first quarter of this year saw a remarkable 60% rise year on yearto 71.4 billion RM. These figures are represented by over 1,200 projects andare set to create 24,000 new job opportunities.
The minister concluded that the urgent issue that the governmentneeds to address at the moment is the acceleration of business approvals required by domestic andinternational investors./.
