Malaysia looks forward to opportunities brought by Chinese investment: PM

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (R) meets with a delegation of China Entrepreneur Club (CEC) in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Nov. 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Malaysia welcomes foreign direct investment from China and looks forward to the opportunities brought by the investment, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said here Tuesday.

Meeting with a delegation of China Entrepreneur Club (CEC), Mahathir reiterated that Malaysia welcomes foreign direct investment from China and welcomes Chinese companies, especially in the manufacturing sector, as Chinese companies have the capital and technology.

The people in Malaysia look forward to the opportunities brought by the Chinese investment, he said, adding that his government is willing to listen to the Chinese companies to achieve a win-win outcome.

Ma Weihua, president of the CEC and former president of China Merchants Bank, said the main purpose of the visit is to communicate with Malaysia's business community to better implement the consensus and cooperation reached by leaders of the two countries, so as to further bilateral cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative.

During his official visit to China in August, Mahathir attended China Entrepreneur Leaders Forum hosted by China Entrepreneur Club, when he sought to attract investment from the leading Chinese entrepreneurs, including Jack Ma of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

On Tuesday, the delegation also held a meeting with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), when its chief executive officer Azman Mahmud said Malaysia recognized China's strengths and its domestic technology base and had taken steps to encourage investment through favorable conditions.

"We share China's view that the best way to face the global economic headwinds is to increase cooperation and create mutually beneficial and sustainable growth through trade and investments," he said.

China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for nine consecutive years with a trade volume exceeding 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.

According to MIDA, China accounted for 6.5 billion ringgit, or 43 percent of the total foreign investments in the Malaysia's manufacturing sector in the first half of 2018.