Malaysia ideal location for foreign investors to set up regional offices

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia remains an ideal location for foreign investors to set up regional office, thanks to its strong and diversified base across multiple industries, said Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) chairman, Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz.

As at first quarter of this year, Mida has approved 3,569 regional establishment projects, which included representatives offices, regional offices, operational headquarters, international procurements centres among others.

Amirsham said investments in the first half of this year were strong and this trend was expected to continue in the second half despite the challenging global and domestic economic environment.

“We are also hoping that domestic investors would continue to invest because we need both elements to accelerate the growth of the country,” he told reporters on the sidelines at the opening of Arla Foods Asia regional office here on Thursday.

On whether the cabinet reshuffle would give impact investors’ confidence, he said, political scenario was not a major factor for investors to set up their businesses locally.

“Investors come to this country to do business and they are looking for a long-term prospects and politics is not a concern,” he said.

On the weakening ringgit, he said, foreign investors were looking into using Malaysian inputs to reduce costs and they had started to realise and recognise that local supply chain was good.

“Therefore, the impact is minimal as they are leveraging on domestic supply chain and technology. This is good for the country,” Amirsham said.

Meanwhile, head of Arla business activities in Asia, Jesper Colding, said the set-up of the regional office would assist the company access the Asian region market.

“The Malaysian market is relatively small at the moment. However, it has certain advantages, such as safe and friendly environment to develop the business.

“Cost-wise, this country is still attractive compared to Beijing, Shanghai or Singapore,” he said, adding that the Arla’s main market in Asia was China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh. 

On its future plan, Colding said, in the first phase, the company would concentrate on the export opportunities as well as liaising with its partners, which already had manufacturing facilities locally.

“These partners may have production facility that we can tap into by using our raw materials. However, it is still in the planning stage,” he added.

The organic dairy products producer currently offers cheese-based products in the local market and is keen to bring in its whole range liquid dairy products into the domestic market soon. - Bernama