Pak-Malaysia: Investment may to grow 10%

Seminar highlights business potential of the two countries.

KUALA LUMPUR:

Investment flows between Malaysia and Pakistan are expected to grow by at least 10 per cent this year, according to Malaysian Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.

“Both countries have inherent strengths which we can use and take advantage of, so we don’t necessarily have to compete, but can complement each other,” he said at the ‘Business and Investment Opportunities in Pakistan’ seminar, held in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

He encouraged the private sector of Malaysia to take advantage of the enabling environment and use Pakistan as a spring board to expand business with trading partners of Pakistan in the South Asian and Asean regions.

He underlined sectors like telecommunications, petrochemicals and palm oil which could be explored together.

As of January this year, investments from Pakistan in the Malaysian manufacturing sector totalled 1.099 billion ringgit involving 26 projects, while investments from Malaysia in Pakistan up to 2009 amounted to 2.567 billion ringgit.

Mahathir said bilateral trade was also expected to see some growth, after trade between the two countries in 2010 reached 7.991 billion ringgit.

Pakistan’s Board of Investment Chairman Saleem H Mandviwalla, in his address, encouraged private sectors of both countries to seize trade, investment and business opportunities and help in building strong economic cooperation between the two countries.

High Commissioner of Pakistan in Malaysia Masood Khalid, in his welcome remarks, said that Pakistan and Malaysia have taken new initiatives in the fields of agriculture, livestock, farming and education and some more initiatives are under way.

The seminar was attended by more than 30 top-ranking representatives of Pakistan’s corporate sector and about 200 representatives of Malaysian companies.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2011.