60 Rise In Approved Investments Says Tengku Zafrul

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Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said the 18 free trade agreements Malaysia has signed so far helped exporters to access the international market. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: Approved investments in Malaysia rose by 60% to RM71.4 billion in the first quarter of the year compared to the previous year, Tengku Zafrul Aziz said today.
Tengku Zafrul, who is minister for investment, trade and industry, said these investments involved more than 1,200 projects which could create 24,000 new jobs, reported Bernama.
Speaking after delivering a speech at the Australian Network Leaders’ Summit 2023 here today, he said promotional activities in the seven months since he became minister had also resulted in investment commitments of US$49 billion (RM230 billion) from four countries.
These four countries are China (RM170 billion), South Korea (RM24 billion), Japan (RM23 billion) and Singapore (RM13 billion).
Tengku Zafrul said the country had benefitted from various trade agreements signed with other countries.
These include the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
“A total of 18 free trade agreements have been signed so far. These trade agreements help our exporters to access the international market. We can see that trade continues to increase,” he said.
“This is a testament to the confidence foreign investors have in Malaysia.”
Tengku Zafrul said the government needs to speed up business approvals to encourage even more investments.
“The ministry together with related agencies will focus on this process to speed up the approvals required by domestic and international investors,” he said. - FMT

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