Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE HILTON HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 10/11/87
Tajuk/Title : THE MALAYSIAN-ARAB TRADE AND
INVESTMENT CONFERENCE
Excellencies;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.
It gives me great pleasure to be here at this
Malaysian-Arab Trade and Investment Conference. The fact
that this Conference is on today, as I understand it, is due
to the initiative of certain members of the private sector
who have been concerned about the very limited Arab
investments in this country. I would like to congratulate
the organizing committee for making this conference
possible. The Fleet Group should also be congratulated for
the pro-active role that they have undertaken in helping to
organize this meeting.
2. I particularly welcome the holding of this
Malaysian-Arab Trade and Invesment Conference because Arab
nations are perhaps among the few capital-exporting
countries that have not been exposed to the investment
opportunities that Malaysia has to offer. Over the last two
years we have had investment conferences in Malaysia for
Germans, Japanese, Scandinavians, British, and others. It is
thus most befitting that such a Conference for one of the
most significant group of capital-exporting nations in the
world be also held in Malaysia.
3. Malaysia at one time looked towards Arab nations with
considerable amount of anticipation for inflow of investment
funds into private sector projects. The Malaysian
Industrial Development Authority or MIDA, the government
agency responsible for investment promotion, even set up an
office in the Middle East to promote Arab investments into
Malaysia. However, since at that time, Arab investment
interests were focussed towards the West, there was little
response to MIDA's efforts to attract Arab investors. The
MIDA office was consequently closed.
4. To date Arab investments in the manufacturing sector
total only about $43 million ringgit and you will admit, it
does not in any way reflect the true strength of the Arab
investment potential. There are, of course, Arab
investments in various Malaysian plantations and trading
companies which are quite significant.
Ladies and gentlemen,
5. Many investors from numerous countries have found
Malaysia to be a very hospitable and profitable environment
for their projects and I hope that this Conference will
reveal to all of you the prospects for profits that can be
made in Malaysia.
6. The investment opportunities in Malaysia will be
explained to you by various speakers in this Conference. You
will be told that opportunities in Malaysia lie not only in
manufacturing, but also in agricultural and agro-based
projects, in the various government plans for privatisation
and that joint venture partners can be both from the
private sector as well as semi-government organisations
authorised to undertake private sector investments.
7. We appreciate that Arab investors may not have the
technological expertise or export marketing contacts for
some of the projects that Malaysia wishes to promote. It is
in this context that we envisage that projects that are to
be formed as Malaysian-Arab joint ventures may have to have
third party inputs of technology, export marketing contacts
and even perhaps capital. However, we realize that as
investors your contacts are world-wide and you have access
to the necessary foreign technology and knowledge inputs
much more than most Malaysian businessmen may have, and
thus we welcome you to bring in this third party element
together with your investments.
8. I have been told that it is often the practice among
Arab investors to look for investment opportunities in
existing business ventures and to either buy over the
company, or to form a joint venture with such enterprises.
This appears to have been the principal trend of Arab
investments in the West. However, though equity acquisition
and takeovers are possible, we would like to see Arab
investors helping this nation in enlarging the total
economic cake with the establishment of new projects. Most
of the foreign investments in Malaysia, be it from America,
Europe, Japan or elsewhere, have been of the nature of new
enterprises. These projects have also garnered handsome
profits for the investors. I hope that Arab investors will
also pursue this particular pattern of investments, so as
not to miss out on the opportunities that others are already
reaping.
Ladies and gentlemen,
9. When you plan to invest in any country, I am sure that,
among your critical concerns, would be the political
stability and economic strength of the nation and the
policies that the Government follows to encourage and
protect the rights of foreign investors. In this regard the
history of this country and our track record in the
practice of Parliamentary Democracy is your best assurance
of the political stability of this nation. In addition, the
economic strength of this nation is founded on the
strength of our world pre-eminence in the export of
commodities such as rubber, tin, palm oil, hardwood timber
and pepper. Our petroleum industry has also helped, though
this is but a fraction of those in the Arab nations. The
recent successes that we have engendered in the
manufacturings ector, that has made Malaysia today among the
world leaders in the exports of electronic semi-conductors,
room air-conditioners, rubber gloves, swimming caps,
catheters and refined palm oil, are all assurances to you
of the basic soundness and strength of the Malaysian
investment environment.
10. The policies of the Government in respect of foreign
investments are very clearly defined. However, I would like
to stress that we welcome Arab investors to hold majority or
even 100% foreign ownership in projects that fall within our
guidelines. For joint venture projects, you will find no
shortage of the Malaysian parties eager to talk to you. As
the equity guidelines have been well accepted by investors
from other nations, I am sure that you will find these
policies equally agreeable. The Government has also
allowed for foreign ownership of land in this country and
this policy may encourage you to take advantage of
the vast opportunities in agricultural development in this
country. Indeed, there are many real-estate projects
already completed which are worth acquiring as the property
market is expected to improve soon.
11. When you look at Malaysia, you may perceive the 16
million population of this country as relatively small
compared to the other countries in this region. However,
the population figures for this country does not by any
means measure the purchasing power of the nation. Indeed,
comparison of trade figures, GNP and per capita income would
indicate that in terms of economic performance we are
almost as big as our giant neighbours. Also, when you do
look at Malaysia, you must look at it from the perspective
of ASEAN and that the 16 million base population of Malaysia
gives you access to the markets of the ASEAN nations with
270 million inhabitants.Various schemes have been formulated
and are being formulated by the Governments of ASEAN to
enable investors to take advantage of the market strength
that ASEAN affords. Arab investors should seriously look at
this aspect of investments in this region when considering
Malaysia as your base for investments.
Ladies and gentlemen,
12. The global economic situation and the uncertainties and
conflicts that have arisen in various parts of the world
call for very pragmatic approaches towards investments and
the need to diversify one's investments. To date it appears
that most of the Arab investments are in Europe and America.
Malaysia offers you an alternative and we hope that this
Conference will convince you of the potential and prospects
for investments in Malaysia, and that your ventures here
will be equally, if not more, profitable than your
investments in other nations.
13. The Malaysian Government will assist you in every way
possible to ensure the success of your projects in this
country. Our continued interest in trade and investments
with Arab nations is underlined not merely by this
Conference, but by the very pro-active attitude we continue
to take to reach out and to expose Arab investors to the
opportunities that Malaysia offers.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
14. With these words, it gives me great pleasure to declare
this Conference open.
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