KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made official visits to 31 countries between November 2022 and February 2025.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa (pic) told Parliament yesterday that the countries included China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, India, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Germany, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, South Korea, Egypt, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Russia, Laos, Kyrgyz Republic, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkiye, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
“The Prime Minister’s official visits abroad are crucial in demonstrating Malaysia’s commitment to strengthening diplomatic relations and expanding bilateral cooperation with the countries concerned.
“Additionally, the primary objective of these visits was to attract potential investors to Malaysia to boost the national economy and create more job opportunities for locals,” she said in a written reply to Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, who asked for a detailed account of the Prime Minister’s official visits abroad and the economic and political impact of it.
Dr Zaliha said the official visits also served to promote and introduce new government policies, such as the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) 2030.
“The implementation of these policies is expected to attract more foreign investors in key sectors, such as semiconductor equipment manufacturing and integrated circuit design, further strengthening Malaysia’s position as a highly competitive player in the global industrial sector and stimulating economic growth,” she added.
She said last year, the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), together with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) and Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade), conducted 16 trade and investment missions, including 15 official visits led by the Prime Minister, resulting in RM115.56bil worth of potential proposed investments.
Following these efforts, Dr Zaliha said RM37.6bil worth of investments were approved in 2024, with an additional RM17.9bil expected to be finalised this year.
Key investment commitments from the trade missions in 2024 were primarily in the electrical and electronics (semiconductors), chemical (petrochemical and chemical products), and digital economy (data centres) industries, she revealed.
Over the course, bilateral discussions were also held with neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, mainly on border demarcation to ensure mutual understanding and agreements to uphold national sovereignty.
“Topics discussed included security cooperation and countering threats such as smuggling, terrorism and transnational crime. Also, the government is focusing on defence cooperation to enhance regional security preparedness.
“These official visits have also served as a platform for Malaysia to voice its stance and participate in discussions on international issues, particularly humanitarian crises.
“Malaysia has consistently called for adherence to international law, especially concerning the Palestine issue and Rohingya crisis,” she added.
