KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — The government, via the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida), has identified 141 projects with a potential investment value of RM72.6 billion to be implemented in Malaysia up to 2021.

Senior Minister cum International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said the government’s target sectors include those which are of high quality, knowledge and capital-intensive, high technology and high value-added, which will boost the quality of job opportunities in Malaysia.

“Aside from projects worth RM37.4 billion which have been approved as of March 2020, Mida is also in the midst of evaluating 725 new applications with an estimated RM36.7 billion worth of investments.

“Of the total, RM19.2 billion (52.3 per cent) are domestic direct investments, and RM17.5 billion (47.7 per cent) are foreign direct investments,” he said in reply to the question from Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) during the question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat here, today.

Ahmad had asked about the domestic impacts following the United States (US)-China trade war; the Covid-19 crisis and the proactive steps taken to overcome its challenges, including the ensuing trade deficit; and the effectiveness of the measures implemented.

Mohamed Azmin said the government was also looking at ways to improve regional collaborations, since Malaysia and Asean countries have agreed to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at the end of the year.

“This is part of our efforts to open up new markets at the regional level as well as in new areas.

“Asean is a huge market with its population of 650 million; as such, there is potential if Malaysia can strengthen its competitiveness at the global and regional level to meet the market’s demands,” he said.

He added that the US-China trade war had opened up new opportunities for Malaysia, however, the government must be prepared with new investment approaches and policies to meet the current market demand.

Mohamed Azmin said the International Trade and Industry Ministry, through the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), had taken proactive steps to boost exports to address the trade impact on Malaysia.

This includes continuing trade promotion activities via digital platforms with the introduction of eBizMatch (virtual business matching), webinars, My Export application, trade clinics and expanding the scope of the Market Development Grant to include virtual trade promotion activities.

The ministry had also helped local companies to participate in trade expos held overseas — especially those held in China — via video conferencing.

Additionally, the government also held several Virtual Trade Clinic (VTC) sessions, which is a trade advisory platform to help companies meet export requirements and overcome the challenges in order to revive the operations and export plans for Malaysian companies.

As a start, Mohamed Azmin said Matrade, together with the Malaysian Productivity Corporation through the Electrical and Electronics Productivity Nexus (EEPN) and the Machinery and Equipment Productivity Nexus (MEPN) has held VTCs for electrical and electronic companies. — Bernama