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KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali today said that he will present a paper detailing Malaysia’s new investment policy to the Cabinet this — which will be tied to the National Investment Aspiration that aims to attract higher-quality investment and move away from labour intensive investments.
“This is so that Malaysia can attract higher-quality investments in terms of technology and skilled labour.
“As we all know, this high technology investment is in line with the government’s aspirations to become a high-income country … a highly competitive economy and reduce the dependency on foreign workers,” he said during the Miti General Assembly today.
He said that as of today, the number of registered foreign workers has reached almost two million and that the number of unregistered foreign workers is more than two million.
“It is the government’s responsibility to draft a new investment policy that focuses on technology and innovation because this will make Malaysia a trade hub that is able to compete and sustain at a global level, God Willing,” he said.
Azmin added that the high level of foreign trade will give Malaysia confidence and that the country is standing on a solid path to revitalise the economy to be sustainable for the long term.
“Trade surplus made in 2020 is the biggest thus far, increasing by 26.9 per cent to RM184.8 billion as compared to 2019. This will give foreign investors the confidence to invest in Malaysia,” he said.
Recently, the Department of Statistic Malaysia (DOSM) said that Malaysia’s trade surplus soared by 38.0 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to RM16.6 billion in January 2021.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said total trade widened by 4.1 per cent yoy to RM162.6 billion.
He said Malaysia’s total exports continued its positive momentum of five consecutive months of improvement by expanding 6.6 per cent yoy to RM89.6 billion in January 2021, while imports continued to record an increase of 1.3 per cent to RM73 billion.