Liow: Strong economic growth expected for Malaysia due to Belt and Road initiative

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is set to experience stronger economic growth this year thanks in part to the Belt and Road collaboration bilateral initiative with China.

Transport Minister and MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (pic) said the party supported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's economic transformation programme to further boost the local economy.

"We were among the earliest countries to support this initiative and now we can actually harvest the investment relations that we built under it," he said after a central committee meeting at Wisma MCA here on Sunday (Feb 11).

Liow said the trade volume between the two countries stood at about RM10bil per month since 2017 and China is set to continue the trend of investing in Malaysia.

"As you can see, our trade with China has been about RM10bil every month since 2017.

"We are positive under this Belt and Road collaboration initiative, relations between Malaysia and China – with MCA taking the lead role – will be able to drive a strong economy this year," he said.

He also noted that he recently had a good discussion with China's leadership on various issues including the export of uncleaned birds' nest and Malaysia's famous Musang King durian variety.

"We are also looking forward to export many more of our products to China," he said, adding that China was willing to increase its imports of palm oil.