By Ahmad Farizal Hajat, NNN-Bernama
Kuwait City : The Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, has commended Malaysian investors for forging business ties with their Kuwaiti counterparts.
During his meeting with Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz here Wednesday, he expressed the hope of seeing more two-way investments between Malaysia and Kuwait.
He told a big delegation of Malaysian businessmen accompanying the minister on a trade and investment of three Gulf states that Kuwait enjoyed a good relationship with Malaysia which it considered an ally and “close family”.
“I am also glad to see that the market in Malaysia is in the stonger mood and I always encourage my private sector to enhance business linkages with their Malaysian counterparts as this will contribute to more inflows and outflows of direct investments between the two countries,” he said.
Rafidah, who arrived here on Tuesday, is leading the trade and investment mission which also includes stops in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Sheikh Nasser, who noted that Malaysia had done well in Islamic banking and financial services, said this had made it one of the attractive places offering Islamic-based financial products in the world.
“Malaysia has now emerged as an attractive destination among investors in the Islamic banking and finance and the system there is also good,” he added.
He also said that there was a possibility of allowing more flights from Malaysia into Kuwait to increase inbound passengers for business purposes.
Rafidah said Malaysia would continue to ensure a good business environment for foreign investors. As a gateway to the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) region, Malaysia can be the best place for Kuwaiti investors to gain further market access into the region.
“With a consumer base in excess of 567 million people and a combined gross domestic product of 1.064 trillion USD, the Asean market offers immense business opportunities for Kuwaiti investors,” she added.
Trade between Malaysia and Kuwait has been growing steadily over the past decade from US$79.3 million in 1996 to US$506.3 million in 2006, recording an average double-digit growth of 16 per cent per annum.
For the first 11 months of last year, total trade between the two countries reached US$671.4 million, up 49.2 per cent over the same period in 2006.
Kuwaiti investments in Malaysia include those by Kuwait Finance House (Islamic banking operations), Global Investment House of Kuwait (a 10 per cent share in Asian Finance Bank Bhd), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (a joint venture with malaysian national oil coporation Petronas in oil and gas exploration), and Abu Dhabi-Kuwait-Malaysia Investment Corporation.
Kuwait was Malaysia’s fourth largest trading partner among the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries in 2006.