EU-ABC delegation in Malaysia for trade, investment

KUALA LUMPUR: EU-Asean Business Council ( EU-ABC) has made a trade and investment trip to Malaysia, bringing more than 20 European companies for meetings with the Malaysian government and leading politicians.

Commenting on the mission, EU-ABC chairman and head of delegation Donald Kanak said the visit was undertaken because Malaysia is one of the leading economies in Southeast Asia and a key trading and investment partner in Asean for Europe.

“We are here to promote further improvements in trade and investment relationship, and to have discussions with the Malaysian government on a wide range of topics to enhance the understanding between government and industry. Clearly, this is a very strong trade and investment relationship and one that we hope will continue to grow.

“Trade in goods between the EU and Malaysia has grown by more than 34 per cent over the last 10 years with the balance of trade being very much in Malaysia’s favour. Malaysia is EU’s third largest trading partner in Asean and also the 3rd largest recipient of EU FDI at US$ 2.4bn in 2017, which is more than 70 per cent increase over 2016,” he added.

Chris Humphrey executive director of the EU-ABC, on the other hand, said the visit was also to discuss moves to speed up Asean economic integration because Malaysia is a key and leading player in the region and has been a strong proponent of closer economic integration in Southeast Asia.

He also said that European business remains committed to the Asean region, as shown by the 2018 ASEAN-EU Business Sentiment Survey where an overwhelming majority of European companies reported that they expected to increase trade and investment in the region.

Thus, the EU-ABC plans to repeat the survey in 2019, with the results to be released in September.

EU-ABC is a leading regional body for European businesses in South East Asia.