China to remain Malaysia’s largest trading partner, says Liew
09 Jun 2023
China will remain as Malaysia’s largest trading partner for years to come, as it is a major source of investment.
Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tong said there is a very high chance of a Chinese company which is the main supplier to European and US firms reinvesting in Malaysia because of the geopolitical tension in the West.
“We in Malaysia are trying to balance the geopolitics, so that we can prosper from the US and China.
“We will have to manage it geopolitically and economically…it must be managed wisely, although it is not easy,” he said during a dialogue session at the Northern Edition of MIDF’s Automation and Digital Forum Series titled Driving Business Thru Digitalisation and Automation — The Journey Together.
Earlier, Liew gave a keynote address to participants at the event comprising small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and manufacturing companies in Penang.
The event, endorsed by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, was co-organised by Bizsphere Sdn Bhd, the administrator of Smart4Wrd, a collaborative platform on the Industry 4.0 Ecosystem, and is the second event in a series of forums that started in the central Peninsular Malaysia region in March 2023, and will be followed by forums in the southern and eastern regions, as well as in Sabah and Sarawak.
The forum was held with the objective of creating awareness of various government support available to aid local players to jump-start their business facilities in the journey towards automating and adopting Industry 4.0 and digital technologies.
The forum was also structured as a shared learning journey platform to help Malaysian businesses benefit from the positive potential of Industry 4.0 adoption.
The event was organised as a platform to promote the available financial assistance provided by MIDF for local businesses aimed at encouraging companies to undertake automation and modernisation of manufacturing processes, upgrade production capabilities and capacities, improve productivity and efficiency, as well as address the impact on global market liberalisation.
During the event, a memorandum of collaboration between MIDF and the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) was signed to facilitate the process of linking local companies in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) with MIDF, enabling them to access a wide range of financial advisory solutions and support for their technology and innovation activities.
This will also foster joint promotional activities between MIDF and NCER, creating synergistic marketing campaigns to mutually benefit both parties.
Meanwhile, MIDF head of development finance division Azizi Mustafa said MIDF is a strong supporter of automation and modernisation, and will do whatever it can to accelerate and facilitate SMEs to adopt automation and modernisation by collaborating with partners like the NCIA.
“We want to widen our reach, so that more and more companies will have access and advisory, especially for SMEs, to embark on automation and modernisation through Industry 4.0 adoption,” he added.
Source: Bernama
