French PM: France sees Malaysia as good investment destination

KUALA LUMPUR: As the French government strives to stimulate economic growth, it undoubtedly sees Malaysia as a good investment destination, with goals that resonate with its own.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault assured Malaysian businesses that French companies were ready to invest in Malaysia, seeing that opportunities abound locally.

“Malaysia has very ambitious goals; to be a developed country by 2020. (The country) has chosen technology as the way forward, and this makes it a good investment destination for France,” he said at the Malaysia-France Economic Forum.

“We have similar goals in that we look for sustainable development and urban development,” he said, adding, “We can be equal partners working hand-in-hand on win-win projects.”

He reassured that the French economy, alongside the eurozone, was recovering well and that the Government’s current priority was bringing back growth and employment.

“I can affirm that the European leaders have made the right decision and put in the right mechanism,” he said on the implementation of measures like the banking union to supervise all banks. “We can say that the eurozone is out of its crisis, although everything is not over yet as we need to bring back growth.”

Ayrault noted that under the French trade commission Ubifrance set up in 2012, 260 companies have come to Malaysia.

“There are not just big companies but SMEs too in nomadic sectors who have found partners here.”

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, who graced the forum, described Ayrault’s visit as historic, as there had not been a French prime minister visiting in the past three decades.

“There will be many areas the French can invest in such as aerospace, chemicals and electronics, for big and small companies,” he said, adding that French companies already operating here were receptive of the systems and infrastructure in Malaysia.

“I believe we will see a stark increase in investments from French companies into Malaysia,” he said, noting that there were already successful French investments like cement producer Lafarge, automobile brand Peugeot and power plant and infrastructure group Alstom.

After the forum, local company Strovi Tel Sdn Bhd signed a licensing and technology transfer agreement with French company Laboratoire Francais du Fractionnement et des Biotechnologies (LBF Group), indicating a significant public-private partnership between both countries.

The expected return on investment is about 12% for Strovi Tel, according to chief executive Ahmad Farizal Datuk Abd Karim.

Strovi Tel is investing RM700mil for the development of the state-of-the-art facility to be built on a 6.07ha plot in Bandar Teknologi Enstek in Nilai. Executive chairman Datuk Awalan Abdul Aziz said: “We will raise the funds but have yet to sign an agreement with any financial institution.”

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