KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Malaysia needs to continue playing its role as a ‘neutral’ country with a strong ecosystem in the technology sector to ensure the country remains an investment destination.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said Malaysia’s economy is open and has established cooperative relations with all countries.

"Southeast Asia is neutral, has good demographics, a growing, stable and peaceful economy.

"Malaysia and Singapore are two countries that have been involved in the semiconductor sector for a long time — Malaysia is over 50 years old and we have a good ecosystem, almost complete and mature.

"So, that’s one of the reasons we see investment also increasing in this sector,” he said on the Agenda Awani programme titled ‘Tech War’, Tesla and Investment Magnet broadcast by Astro Awani on Tuesday.

He said the increase in investment inflows was also supported by recent data which showed Malaysia recorded approved investments of RM83.7 billion in various fields in the first quarter, representing an increase of 13 per cent from RM74.1 billion in the same period last year.

"We expect the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2024 with the manufacturing sector growing by 4.7 per cent, boosted by the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector, especially semiconductors,” he said.

Tengku Zafrul said that in terms of trade, Malaysia has 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) including multilateral and bilateral, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

"We have various FTAs ​​with all groups, for example the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is not an economic block but a grouping that discusses global south issues.

"We are also together with the United States in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). Recently we are looking to start discussions with the European Union on the Malaysia-EU Free Trade Agreement (MEUFTA).

"In my opinion, almost all of our blocs are together because our country is a country with an open economy and is also small compared to its main trading partners, the United States and China,” he said. — Bernama