PM Najib urges US multinationals to make KL their regional hub

• Touts Malaysia’s ranking in World Bank report and World Competitiveness Scoreboard
• InvestKL to facilitate location of companies for business, innovation and talent hubs

AHEAD of President Barack Obama’s visit to Malaysia next month, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (pic) called on US-based Fortune 500 and Forbes 2000 companies to expand their investment in the country by making the capital city of Kuala Lumpur their regional hub for Asia.
 
Speaking at InvestKL's ‘In Conversation with the Prime Minister,’ Najib said that Malaysia was strategically located and is a leading economy within Asia and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean).
 
He highlighted the nation’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) which aims to transform Malaysia into a high-income economy by the year 2020, as well as the United States’ position as one of Malaysia’s largest foreign direct investor and fourth largest trading partner.
 
“Our efforts to provide a business-friendly environment have been affirmed by the World Bank, which ranked Malaysia the 12th best place in the world to conduct business in its ‘Ease of Doing Business 2013’ report,” Najib said.
 
“The IMD World Competitiveness Centre ranked Malaysia 15th in its World Competitiveness Scoreboard 2013. In 2012, we were placed 4th out of 59 economies in terms of business efficiency,” he told the audience at the Harvard Business Club in New York City, ahead of the UN General Assembly he would attending.
 
In the World Bank’s Doing Business 2013 (DB2013) report, the 10th in the series, Malaysia had moved up six notches among the 185 economies monitored to hit No 12, ahead of countries such as Sweden (13), Germany (20) and Japan (24), but behind its Asean neighbour Singapore, which was No 1.

Malaysia remains No 1 for ‘Getting Credit’ and No 4 for ‘Protecting Investors,’ and the World even acknowledged Malaysia as among the top 10 reformers within the APEC region that had made the most progress in regulatory practices.
 
Najib’s visit to New York came after a tour of Silicon Valley as part of the Multimedia Super Corridor’s (MSC Malaysia) International Advisory Panel discussions, where earlier this week he visited the head offices of technology giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter.
 
InvestKL is a government entity under the purview of Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Ministry of Federal Territories and the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) in the Prime Minister’s Department.
 
It works with other ministries, government entities and agencies to formulate fiscal packages to attract large global multinationals such as Fortune 500 and Forbes 2000 companies to set up their regional business, innovation and talent hubs in Kuala Lumpur.
 
InvestKL chief executive officer Zainal Amanshah said his would assist with key management, finance and trading capabilities to help multinationals run their regional operations.
 
“The legal and commercial infrastructure is also in place to encourage and commercialise ideas and innovation essential for continued business success.
 
“And as far as talents requirements go, we have initiated successful partnerships between organisations and institutes of higher learning to nurture industry-specific talents,” he added.
 
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