MALAYSIAN COMPANIES ASKED TO INCREASE INVESTMENTS IN U.S.

From Tham Choy Lin

WASHINGTON, April 16 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
urged Malaysian companies to explore opportunities in the United States even as the government wants to attract more American investors.

Najib, who wants bilateral trade and investments to be beefed up as the two
countries recharged relations, said Malaysians can focus on areas which
complemented their business activities whether abroad or in Malaysia.

"The direct investments abroad will not only export our products but our
skills to expand into new markets and tap new investment. At the same time, I
would also like to encourage strong levels of inward reinvestment into Malaysia
should you begin to make profits," he said in his keynote address at a trade and
investment seminar on trade opportunities in the U.S. here Thursday.

The Prime Minister, on a week-long working visit and to attend the Nuclear
Security Summit, also met Thursday two key U.S administration officials,
Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

At the seminar hosted at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Najib told his
audience of American businessmen and about 30 Malaysian companies top
executives, that investments by Malaysian companies abroad had been on an
uptrend.