PM Anwar woos more German businesses to invest in Malaysia

BERLIN: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim welcomed more German businesses to take advantage of Malaysia’s strategic location in Southeast Asia and its developed infrastructure as a preferred investment destination.

“Within the European Union, Germany, of course, is our largest trading partner and you have invested a substantial amount close to US$15bil (RM70.24bil),” he said.

He cited Infineon Technologies AG and many other leading German companies that have chosen Malaysia as their important hub, centre of excellence and training centres.

Malaysia looks forward to greater collaboration, not only in enhancing trade and investment but also to strengthening bilateral relations in all fields, he said at a joint press conference with his German counterpart Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Federal Chancellory, Berlin on Monday (March 11).

Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said Malaysia is keen to focus on the training of students.

“We have about 1,000 students throughout Germany for training in German companies for their initial exposure.”

The Prime Minister also said that Putrajaya welcomed Berlin’s interest in terms of new investments in renewable energy and green technology.

“Renewable energy has been our focus now and we are fortunate because we are strong in solar, green energy and strong in terms of our capacity to export in renewable energy,” he said.

Anwar said Malaysia was exporting renewable energy to Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara as well as through undersea cable to Singapore.

“So, there is a huge potential that you can see in the mushrooming of data centres and AI into the region, especially in Malaysia,” he said.

On other developments, Anwar reaffirmed Malaysia’s optimism in achieving economic growth of between 4 per cent and 5 per cent in 2024, grounded in the solid foundation that is the Madani economy framework and the reforms outlined through Malaysia’s Budget 2024.

He also highlighted that the Madani economy framework will leverage Malaysia’s innate strengths in enhancing national competitiveness, with emphasis on fiscal sustainability measures, good governance practices and efficacious service delivery.

There are over 700 German companies based in Malaysia, creating 65,000 jobs.

Germany has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner among European Union member countries since 2000, while Malaysia is the largest trading partner for Germany among Asean member states.

In 2023, Malaysia’s total trade with Germany increased by 5.9 per cent to RM63.45bil (US$13.90bil) compared to RM59.87bil (US$13.62bil) in 2022.- BK