24
Sep
KUALA LUMPUR — Collaboration between Malaysian and African companies will help fuel the growth of the African economy and in turn open new markets for Malaysian corporates, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said.
Second deputy chief executive officer N. Rajendran said the expanding economy in the world’s second largest continent offers a lot of opportunities for Malaysian companies to tap into apart from its natural resource assets.
“Electronics, consumer products and machinery equipment for agriculture are some of the potential areas that we can tap into,” he told Bernama on the sidelines of the Third Country Training Programme (TCTP) Investment Promotion For African Countries here yesterday.
He said African economies have great potential to build on their demographic dynamism, rapid urbanisation and natural resource assets.
Rajendran said Africa has seen remarkable progress in human capital development, with lower poverty levels, rising incomes and improving rates of school enrolment and health coverage.
Last year, he said, foreign direct investment (FDI) to Africa increased four per cent to US$57 billion, driven by infrastructure investments especially in the Eastern and Southern Africa subregions.
He said FDI inflows into Southern Africa almost doubled to US$13 billion while investment in Eastern Africa grew 15 per cent to US$6.2 billion.
“This shows that Africa is continuing to sustain its economic and population growth and will definitely attract market-seeking FDI into consumer-oriented industries,” he said.
The TCTP was organised by MIDA in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japan International Cooperation Agency to help African countries gain a better understanding of Malaysia’s experience in improving its policies and strategies for industrial development and investment promotion.
Nine officials from the investment promotion agencies of Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Cote D’Ivoire attended the programme.
Source: http://www.malaysiandigest.com/business/519965-malaysia-africa-collaboration-helps-fuel-africa-s-economic-growth-mida.html