By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysia needs to attract more foreign direct investments, “particularly from India”, a leading Malaysian entrepreneur has said ahead of the Malaysia-India Economic Conference due next month.
Chua Jui Meng, chairman of the National Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council, said Malaysia needed to increase more FDI in order to fast-track its mission to become a developed nation by 2020, Tamil journal Malaysian Nanban reported.
“We need to do more promotion, especially in India. (I think) the Malaysia India Economic Conference 2008 will serve as a platform for both Malaysian and Indian businessmen to use the opportunities and build up strategic linkages for their future business expansion,” he said.
Chua said there was a need to attract more Indian businesses as India was one of the key emerging markets in the world.
Currently, there are over 100 companies from India operating in Malaysia. India is the seventh largest investor in Malaysia with a cumulative investment for the period 1980-2006 of $570.56 million. India’s investment in Malaysia last year was in excess of $1 billion, the national Bernama news agency said.
Chua said the government encouraged SMEs to explore opportunities abroad, and India cannot be ignored.
“As a newly-emerging economic power, India has a substantial and diverse industrial base including automobiles, iron and steel, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemical, petrochemicals, oil and gas, electricity generation and telecommunications,” he said.
Chua, who is also the organising chairman of the conference, said 1,000 corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, government officials and businessmen from industrial and services sectors from India and Malaysia were expected to take part in the conference. The meet is scheduled to be held at Petaling Jaya June 25, The Star newspaper reported.