Government ramps up efforts to attract high-quality investments
KUALA LUMPUR: The government will continue to ramp up efforts to attract highquality investments into the country against the backdrop of a challenging business environment.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said despite aiming to increase the number of investments, priority would be given to translate those figures into real economic benefits for Malaysian companies and workers, particularly in terms of business and jobs opportunities.
“The government will not rest on its laurels as we will continue to improve our capacity and capabilities to embrace the challenges that lie ahead,” he said in response to recent developments in Malaysia’s manufacturing sector.
The manufacturing sector is crucial to the Malaysian economy, accounting for about 23 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and contributed to over 80 per cent of total exports.
“We need to stay the course and ensure that our manufacturing sector will emerge stronger from this experience,” he said in a statement.
Mustapa said the digital evolution was changing consumer behaviour and demand and this may lead to disruptive and radical changes in business models as they affected the way businesses are conducted.
In view of this, Mustapa said companies were realigning their business strategies to remain competitive and sustainable.
“Some companies have decided to relocate their manufacturing plants away from Malaysia to other countries as we no longer support labour intensive and low-
The government will not rest on its laurels as we will continue to improve our capacity and capabilities to embrace the challenges that lie ahead. Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, International Trade and Industry Minister
value added industries,” he said in the statement.
On July 11, 2016, Seagate announced that it would cease operations in Pulau Pinang ( Penang Seagate Industries) and Negeri Sembilan ( Seagate Systems) by end-2017 and relocate to Thailand and China, respectively.
Notwithstanding their closure, Mustapa said Malaysia remained an important partner to Seagate as it would retain 2,900 (42 per cent) employees at its remaining operations in IT Shared Resources Centre and Human Resources Call Center for Asia Pacific in Penang and Seagate International (Johor) Sdn Bhd, a substrates manufacturing facility in Johor Bahru.
“The government acknowledges the challenges posed by the closure and restructuring of business operations.
Nonetheless, we have been successful in attracting many other companies to set up their manufacturing facilities in Malaysia,” Mustapa added. — Bernama