Its minister, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, said the private sector in both countries has expressed their confidence over business prospects this year, although the global trade environment is experiencing a slowdown.
“When we look at the local and global economy, we hope that the Malaysia-Japan trade will continue to grow.
“However, we still have to see the progress because there are too many uncertainties now in global trade,” he said.
“Anyway, global trade is a separate issue. I think for investment, we are optimistic,” he told reporters after officiating the Malaysia-Japan Economic Dialogue today.
Earlier in his speech, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia truly values the close and robust economic linkages with Japan, which has been one of Malaysia’s important economic partners for the last couple of decades.
In fact, he said Japan has been Malaysia’s fourth-largest trading partner for eight successive years since 2015.
“In 2022, trade with Japan made up 6.4% of Malaysia’s total trade at RM181.73 billion (US$41.26 billion) amid the backdrop of a challenging global environment,” he added.
He noted that, as of June 2023, a total of 2,778 projects by Japanese companies were implemented in Malaysia, with investments amounting to RM91.89 billion (US$27.25 billion), creating a total of 337,758 job opportunities.
“It is encouraging to note the continuous appetite from Japanese investors towards Malaysia as we continue to welcome more and more FDIs from Japan,” he said.
At the event, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a joint crediting mechanism was signed between the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).
FMM president Soh Thian Lai said the MoU is aimed at facilitating the small and medium enterprises and large entities from both countries to be more competitive on the global front, including providing market access to the respective destinations.
“Last year, we achieved about RM191.2 billion (US$40 billion) of trade with Japan, but this year, we are hoping it will increase further by more than 10 to 20%.
“With this MoU, we can have more direct business-to-business communications and more exports from Malaysia, whilst at the same time Japan also can export to Malaysia,” Soh added.