KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) has announced the participation of US multinational conglomerate Honeywell International Inc in Malaysia’s Principal Hub initiative.
Honeywell is the first global company to join the initiative.
Second Minister of International and Trade Industry, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, said the new investment of Honeywell, one of the world’s renowned diversified technology and manufacturing leaders and a Fortune 100 company, was a testament of Malaysia’s competitiveness and expression of confidence in Malaysia’s economy.
“The Principal Hub scheme was introduced to complement the increasing trend of global off-shoring activities and was introduced in May last year.
“This would enable global companies such as Honeywell to better allocate their resources and be in a better position to leverage on Malaysia’s strategic location to tap into ASsean and the Asia Pacific regional markets,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Ong said Honeywell’s investment also indicated the strengthening of economic ties between Malaysia and the US, currently the former’s third largest trade partner.
Trade between the two countries from January to September 2015 hit RM117bil and has created a lot job opportunities, he said, adding Honeywell has to date invested more than US$100mil in Malaysia with 1,500 employees on the ground since its inception in 1985.
With Malaysia agreeing to be a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), it is also now encouraging those non-member countries to invest in Malaysia to enable them to tap into the TPP market.
On another development, Ong said Malaysia was also in the midst of negotiations with the European Union on a free trade agreement which it hopes to conclude this year after Vietnam did so recently.
Meanwhile, Honeywell South-East Asia president Jim Bujold said Malaysia was classified as a high-growth country with huge growth potential alongside Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.
He said by participating in the initiatives, the company looks forward to continuing its investment and resource development initiatives to support Malaysia’s growth story.
Apart from providing quality employment opportunities in its six entities in Malaysia, the company’s technologies and solutions have been supporting the country in various development projects and it still sees a lot of opportunities, he said.
Honeywell serves customers worldwide with aerospace products and services, control technologies and buildings, homes and industries, turbochargers as well as specialty materials. - Bernama
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