by BERNAMA / pic by BLOOMBERG

MALAYSIAN businesses, especially listed and government-linked companies, are being urged to build and strategise more value-added joint ventures with Chinese counterparts in order to do well in China’s rising market, as normal businesses are becoming unattractive there.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) chairman Datuk Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan said adopting appropriate strategies is also crucial to partnering the Chinese, given that most companies are state-owned enterprises and very big, even those that are private.

“We have to be aggressive in promoting our products and also realise that China is a very competitive market. So, we have to place our strength in terms of quality, packaging and pricing, because everybody is there to capture this 400-million Chinese middle class (market),” he told reporters at the Malaysia-China Outlook Forum 2019 at Petaling Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.

He was the speaker at session one titled “Updates on China and Malaysia Economic Relations”. The forum was officiated by China’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Bai Tian.

Abdul Majid said having value-added partnerships with Chinese companies would also help Malaysian entities expand their market, as well as provide opportunities to other third-country markets, and that this initiative is clearly encouraged under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“A great example is Proton’s plant in Pakistan, where it is a tripartite venture between Malaysia, China and Pakistan. We can duplicate this in many areas,” he added.

He said Malaysia’s targeted investments from Chinese companies embrace five sectors, namely value-added electrical and electronics (as the country is already strong in this segment), medical devices, aeronautical and aerospace, digital technology (such as information technology, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence), and e-commerce.