KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia continues to remain an attractive destination for British investors and companies wishing to expand their business overseas.
At the same time, Britain remains one of Malaysia's favourite partners for education and technical collaboration.
British High Commissioner to Malaysia Charles Hay said despite the global economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic, bilateral ties with Malaysia remained strong.
"Malaysia is Britain's second largest partner in Asean, accounting for £5.2 billion in trade annually. Britain is well aware of Malaysia being the largest supplier of medical gloves and Personal Protective Equipment.
"Additionally, many British companies continue to see Malaysia as a favourable manufacturing hub for electronics, healthcare and software engineering," Hay said in an interview at the British High Commission at Menara Binjai in Jalan Ampang here.
As an example, Hay said medical technology firm Smith+ Nephew announced last November that it was establishing an artificial orthopaedic (knee and hip) manufacturing facility in Batu Kawan, Penang.
The facility, he added, offered up to 800 jobs over the next five years, including roles in manufacturing, engineering and the supply chain.
"Likewise, many British software engineering companies preferred Malaysia owing to the ample supply of skilled and educated workers," he said.
Hay added that another British company, Naylor Farms Malaysia, had begun exporting coleslaw, cut cabbage, onions, carrots and other salads grown in Linconshire, England, to the food and beverage industry here.
"Britain is also looking at expanding the presence of British legal firms here from two entities to more, in view of the demand for international trade agreements and partnerships.
"Malaysian legal firms, too, can reciprocate with similar facilities in Britain, as there are large numbers of talented British-trained lawyers."
On education, Hay said Britain was committed to offering Malay-sians easier student visas (including part-time work off-campus hours) to continue virtual learning at its universities, three of which are among the top 10 in the world.
"Eventually, once Covid-19 eases, we wish to resume the face-to-face classroom attendance so that students get the whole true university experience.
"This will provide a healthy and productive education for Malaysians," said Hay, adding that more than 19,000 Malay-sians had studied at British universities last year.
He advised students not to delay their application for admission into British universities for the autumn semester.
He said that despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order, Britain had done its share to support Malaysian interests.
"This has and is being done via webinars and video-conferencing with agencies and ministers.
"This virtual technology is a new way of doing business.
"Hopefully, the Covid-19 pandemic will be over soon and we can resume direct face-to-face encounters to boost our trade, economic, educational and industrial relations."
He added that Covid-19 had tremendously affected Britain just as it exited the European Union early this year.
"We are in a transition period and are preparing to take a seat in the World Trade Organisation.
"Likewise, we have applied to become an Asean dialogue partner and have established a special mission to Asean based in Jakarta (with the Asean secretariat) to enhance our political, security and socio-economic cooperation in this region."
Hay said Asean was an important security aspect for Britain as it had many flashpoints for transnational crime and climate change issues.
Britain, he added, had also announced its interest in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
On another note, he was pleased to see United Kingdom- based Malaysians contributing to the Covid recovery response, including a Malaysian doctor assisting British scientists in their research to discover a vaccine for Covid-19.
He was also impressed with the measures taken by Malaysia to contain the pandemic.