KUALA LUMPUR: Invest Kuala Lumpur Corporation (InvestKL) aims to secure at least 10 multinational companies (MNCs) this year including from the United States, Europe and China, said chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Amanshah.
Despite the challenging external environment among others due to the US-China trade war and Brexit, he remained bullish on Malaysia’s prospects in attracting MNCs to invest here.
He said the country’s fundamentals are still strong with 4.6 per cent economic growth, unemployment rate at about 4.3 per cent, cost of doing business remaining attractive, and a multilingual talent pool.
“We see some upsides from the US-China trade war, (where) some companies are talking to us saying their investment in China is too risky and perhaps moving some elements of their investment into other parts of the region.
“We are looking at large Fortune 500 companies or rising stars to set up their hubs here, and so far we are on track,” he told reporters after moderating a seminar titled ‘Malaysia’s Outlook Amid Global Uncertainties and Fiscal Policy Reform’ held here today.
Zainal said InvestKL plans to attract manufacturing and services MNCs, while putting an emphasis on wooing innovative Chinese companies.
He said the company is set to announce its 2018 performance soon, which would include 12 new big brands that had chosen Malaysia as their regional principal hub, centre of excellence, and e-commerce hub.