9/6/2012 — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 (Bernama) — The East Coast Economic Region (ECER) expects to attract more Japanese investors following the visits from the Japanese Chamber of Trade and Industry Malaysia (JACTIM)
recently.
The ECER Development Council (ECERDC) Chief Executive Officer Datuk Jebasingam Issace John said a delegation of 22 businessmen, headed by Chairman of JACTIM’s Research Committee, Joji Ikeshita, was in the
east coast to learn more about the investment opportunities available in ECER.
“Through this briefing and on-the-ground visit, these Japanese investors can gain valuable insight into the ECER’s investment climate and attractive opportunities that are just waiting to be explored. I am confident that the JACTIM members will see value in investing in the ECER,” he said in a statement here today.
He said the federal government had spent some RM2 billion to enhance the infrastructure within the ECER to support private investments. Jebasingam said Malaysia has always been one of the top investment destinations for Japanese companies and the visit reflected their strong interest and confidence in ECER.
“Japanese companies have always viewed Malaysia as an attractive investment destination since former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad introduced the Look East policy back in 1982,” he said.
He added that currently, about 50 Japanese families have made their homes in Kuantan. “ECER is a competitive region as it is advantageously located with vast land space, abundant natural resources, multilingual labour force and is strategically linked via land, air and sea.
These factors make ECER an ideal investment gateway for the Asean and Asia Pacific markets, which have a combined population of four billion and gross domestic product of US$17 trillion,” he said.
He said ECER also offers attractive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives including a 10-year tax exemption and competitively-priced land.
Last year, total trade between Malaysia and Japan stood at RM145.3 billion and of this, RM80 billion was contributed by exports from Malaysia to Japan, while imports from Japan made up RM65.3 billion of the total
trade.
At present, there are about 1,400 Japanese companies operating in Malaysia, creating more than 11,000 job opportunities for the country.
