M'SIA GIVES TOP PRIORITY TO HI-TECH SECTOR TO SUSTAIN ECONOMIC GROWTH

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia accords top priority to develop
the high technology sector as part of the strategies to sustain economic growth
momentum and to tide over with stiffer global challenges, says International
Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Mukhriz Mahathir.

It is also to boost competitive edge and economic resilience, he said.

"Therefore, Malaysia no longer promotes itself as an investment destination
for assembly-type operations and labour-intensive projects.

"As an open economy, Malaysia was affected by the global economic crisis in
the first two quarters. This had caused a 6.2 per cent contraction in the first
quarter and 3.9 per cent in the second quarter.

"The third quarter saw the contraction reduced to 1.2 per cent," he told
Bernama in an interview.

Mukhriz said Malaysia, like many other countries in the region, was facing
a daunting task to woo FDIs and domestic investments to the manufacturing and
service sectors owing to the corporate world's inability to invest.

"The corporate world's ability to invest has been reduced due to tighter
credit conditions, fall in company profits and sharp decline in global demand,"
he said.

Besides the liberalisation of the 27 sub-sectors in the services industry to
complement growth in the manufacturing sector, Mukhriz said his ministry,
through the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida), would continue to
engage potential foreign investors in its many trade and investment programmes.

The programmes are trade and investment missions, roundtable meetings,
mini-seminars, specific project missions, special promotion teams, industry
leaders' programmes, journalists' visit programmes, business missions,
advertisements and advertorials, participating in international exhibitions and
organising international conferences, he said.

As a country with a small domestic market, Malaysia's economic growth had
been long driven by international trade and foreign investments, he added.
-- BERNAMA