MITI Minister Tengku Zafrul who led a Ministerial delegation working visit to Italy to strengthen the business relationship between both countries is confident about the outcome after several Italian companies have expressed their interest to invest in Malaysia, given the country’s strategic position as a gateway to ASEAN and the Asia Pacific region. The overall visit has also successfully attracted potential FDIs valued at RM3.25 billion, which are expected to be realised from 2023 onwards.
“In line with the Government’s commitment to being pro-business, pro-investment and pro-trade, MITI and its agencies are ready and prepared to enhance ties with investors that bring in hi-tech and quality investments that will help create better-paying jobs for Malaysians. From the FDI standpoint, our country is already recognised for its strategic location in Southeast Asia, diversified industry ecosystem and qualified talent pool. What is key now is to address all the pain points in the investors’ journey, in an effort to improve the overall ease of doing business in Malaysia,” said Tengku Zafrul.
Part of the Ministerial delegation was Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Datuk Wira Arham Abdul Rahman said, “As a vibrant industrialising and services-oriented nation, Malaysia has geared into the next level of development as our economy becomes more diversified to cater to new growth areas. MIDA continues to welcome high-quality foreign direct investments from around the world, including from Italy. These investments assume an important role in the development of Malaysia due to its multiplier impact on the economy and will continue to do so in the post-pandemic era”.
Italy is Malaysia’s 9th largest foreign investor from the European Union. As of September 2022, a total of 77 manufacturing projects with Italian participation have been implemented with total investments of USD382 million (RM1.4 billion), creating 4,346 job opportunities.
As one of the countries that has created many world class hi-tech companies globally, Italy is able to offer many latest technologies and digitalisation expertise. Hence, the presence of Italian companies in Malaysia is seen as vital to facilitate the transfer of technology to create more Malaysian knowledge workers. Italy’s emerging green technologies are also critical to support Malaysia’s long term strategic objective of attracting investments with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations, in alignment with the country’s New Investment Policy (NIP).
