KUALA LUMPUR: More than 98% of the total manufacturing projects approved in 2023 have been implemented or are in the planning stage as of May 5, says the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz
According to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti), Malaysia saw a total of RM152 billion approved investments for the manufacturing sector in 2023, of which RM46.1 billion were realised last year, involving 445 projects.
“As Miti and its relevant agencies such as the Malaysian Investment Development Authority and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation have diligently pulled out all the stops in the past one and a half years in realising and implementing committed investments and exports, we are seeing more and more companies wanting to make Malaysia their regional manufacturing or services hub.
“In short, Malaysia is where global starts. This means that Malaysia is where global companies can situate their regional hubs, and where domestic homegrown companies can grow into global champions,” the minister said in his speech at the soft launch of the 3D Visualisation and Virtual Augmented Mixed Reality Lab here today.
The launch of the 3D lab, an initiative led by the National Aerospace Industry Corporation Malaysia, under the Malaysian Aerospace Centre of Excellence, was held on the sidelines of the Defence Service Asia 2024 exhibition.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said the Malaysian Aerospace Industry Blueprint 2030 aims to position Malaysia as the number one supplier of competent aerospace industry workforce in Southeast Asia and achieve an annual revenue of RM55.2 billion and creating 32,000 jobs by 2030.
“Additionally, the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 also provides further impetus to our aerospace industry blueprint by ensuring there will be sufficient fiscal support and funding to create a stronger ecosystem that can support the manufacture of more complex aerospace products, which in turn will position Malaysia well as a regional services hub for the aerospace industry,” he said.
In 2023, Tengku Zafrul said, Malaysia recorded a total trade of RM23.2 billion, with exports valued at RM6 billion and revenue at RM18.1 billion, with top exports in the aerospace sector, including parts of aircraft, helicopters and planes.
“I must commend the Malaysian aerospace players, who have helped further entrench Malaysia as a critical supplier in the global aerospace parts and components supply chain, with almost 28,500 skilled workforce and more than 250 companies that are active in the Malaysian aerospace industry ecosystem.
“We can (also) be proud of the fact that we have attracted more and more investments from global aerospace players in the past two years, where the team here and I have been involved in leading a few negotiations with new prospects for our aerospace industry,” he said.
During Miti’s recent trade mission to Germany and France, Tengku Zafrul said, Malaysia managed to secure potential investments of up to RM46 billion from the likes of Airbus Group, Institut de Soudure Groupe and Simaero, among others.
“All this reflects global aerospace players’ trust in Malaysia’s industrial capacity and our strong commitment to supporting the global aerospace value chain. This, in turn, strengthens the ecosystem by ensuring an increase in the labour market’s productivity and efficiency,” he added. – Bernama
