KUALA LUMPUR: Restoring investors' confidence and increasing foreign direct investments (FDI) are among the top priorities of International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
Two other things topping his list were to ensure that trade remained a robust key growth driver to sustain the country's economic growth momentum and to look at the various bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.
"As the global economy is expected to slow down in 2023, my top three priorities as the international trade and industry minister are, firstly, to ensure that trade remains a robust key growth driver to sustain our economic growth momentum.
"Secondly, we must restore investors' confidence and increase FDI, which has long been a key building block of economic resilience, providing us with one of the largest sources of foreign exchange.
"Thirdly, we need to look at the various bilateral and multilateral trade agreements to ensure that their formulation and/or implementation will be of real value and advantage to participants in the Malaysian supply chain, particularly the micro, small and medium enterprises," he said in a statement today.
He gave his assurances that MITI would continue to be the focal point in making Malaysia a preferred investment destination and among the most globally competitive trading nations.
The former finance minister said even though the 2023 Budget would be tabled again in parliament, MITI would propose the creation of a special investment fund to attract more high-value-added investments that would generate higher-paid professional employment opportunities.
He said the target industries include the electrical and electronic industry which includes the development of applications based on radio frequency and bluetooth technology for the automotive industry.
He said other efforts also include attracting investors to Malaysia's electrical and electronic products sector and the systematic development of the medical devices industry.
"Other technology-based industries that will be focused on include the aerospace industry, the chemical and petrochemical industry, nanotechnology, health-tech, and smart manufacturing.
"These efforts will be matched with human capital development measures that will contribute to the restructuring of Malaysia's trade ecosystem in the medium and long term," he said.
Meanwhile, he said he would soon engage with the stakeholders of Malaysian trade, both domestically and internationally, to ensure that we maintain or improve our competitive, business-focused trade ecosystem.
