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MUNICH: The new director of the Munich office of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) is ironing out a strategy to court investors from the states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg in southern Germany as well as Austria and Poland.
Zarina Saad, who has an economics degree from Universiti Utara Malaysia, assumed her post on Nov 3, after working in the life sciences division at Mida’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters.
She was director of Mida’s office in Kedah before her Munich posting, and has been on Mida missions to the USA, Japan and Europe.
“Although the big MNCs (multinational companies) have resources to identify investment opportunities, we are also willing to provide them any possible administrative or other assistance they may need to tap opportunities in Malaysia.
“We have been helping them in their expansion programmes, but the SMEs have great potential and we need to lead them by the hand in achieving their investment goals,” she told Bernama in an interview here.
Baden-Wuerttemberg is home to several thousand medical devices companies, in a recession-proof sector considered crucial for Malaysia’s economy, she said.
“I would like to also reach out to companies engaged in the manufacture of advanced electronics offering unique technology at an advanced level.
“I will be concentrating on both the manufacturing and services sectors, and we are also encouraging companies to set up regional distribution centres, as done by the German multinational B. Braun in Penang,” she said.
Bavaria has a large cluster of automotive companies including BMW, whose cars are being assembled by Inokom Corp Bhd, owned by Sime Darby, in Kulim, Kedah.
“We are generally looking at the hi-tech and knowledge-based industry, we are also trying to attract companies in research and development and the manufacturing sector by offering them incentives,” she said.
On an investment application by a Polish company to set up a base in Bintulu, Sarawak, to manufacture chemicals, she said it is a remarkable development as Poland has not invested in Malaysia since the 1990s.
Zarina said she is also holding talks with an Austrian company which wants to produce solar parts from next year in Perak.
A mission from Mida’s food technology division will be meeting German companies and later visit Denmark, while another mission from Mida’s chemical industry division will be in Germany in December and then visit Poland to meet a potential investor.
According to Mida’s Munich office, one investment project from Austria worth RM155.39 million was approved in 2013, and two projects from the same country worth RM157.82 million were approved in the January-July 2014 period.
Germany had 17 projects approved in 2013 worth some RM1.716 billion and five projects worth RM4.133 billion in the January-July 2014 period. –Bernama