International Trade and Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad kicked off his trade and investment mission to Europe by leading a strong delegation of senior representatives from economic corridors, investment promotion agencies (IPAs) and state governments to Hamburg, Germany on 18 October 2017.
The event attracted 120 participants representing the International Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, German Asia Pacific Business Association as well as key German corporate leaders. More than 100 business meetings were held between leading German companies and Malaysian IPAs. The last time a similar event organised by MITI took place in this city was back in 2010.
“Germany is our largest investor from the EU. Over the last 18 months, existing companies such as B.Braun, Osram, BASF and Infineon have made additional investment of RM3.7 billion to expand their operations in Malaysia. We have also managed to secure new investments worth RM250 million from a number of German companies including Hubner, Rhode & Schwarz and Sew-Eurodrive. The majority of these new investment are from Mittelstand firms (German SMEs),” Mustapa said.
Malaysia’s trade with Germany is currently on the upward trend. In 2016, our total trade stood at RM46 billion – a 7.1% growth compared to 2015. For the period January to August 2017, our total trade with Germany was RM 34.46 billion, an increase by 15.4% compared to similar period last year.
Moving forward, Malaysia aims to boost our exports to Germany in the areas of electrical & electronic products, optical & scientific equipment and rubber products.
Mustapa stressed that it is crucial for Malaysia to increase its visibility in Europe, “German is a very important source of investment for Malaysia. We must strengthen our visibility in Germany and we need to continuously engage foreign stakeholders to promote investment opportunities in Malaysia. This is important to further strengthen our position as a premier investment destination, given the excellent facilitation provided by MIDA and other IPAs”.
On the investment front, as at 2016, about 417 manufacturing projects with total investment worth RM31 billion have been implemented in Malaysia, creating about 45,000 job opportunities. More than 400 German companies are currently operating in Malaysia including BASF, OSRAM, BMW, Muehlbauer, Allianz Insurance, Infineon and Siemens.
During the visit, some of the German companies with existing operations in Malaysia also expressed their interest to make further investment in the country. Among them is Hamburg-based Hauni, the world’s leading supplier of machinery, technologies and consultancy services which has been operating in Shah Alam, Selangor since 2000 and is now keen to expand its presence in the country to keep up with growing demand.
Mustapa added, “Malaysia will continue to focus on attracting quality investment from Germany especially in the area of automation, internet of things (IOT) and Industry 4.0 technologies. German companies have a strong presence in almost every state in Malaysia and we must build upon this close relationship to create further momentum as we forge ahead."
