Johor the biggest contributor to Malaysia's total trade from Jan-April

ISKANDAR PUTERI - Johor emerged as the biggest contributor to Malaysia’s total trade, worth RM247.592 million, from January to April this year.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said Johor's contribution in terms of trade and investment is important for the country's economic growth.

"Both trade and investment (Johor) are important, and in terms of Johor's contribution to trade, it is number one, which is 30 percent of Malaysia's total trade," he told reporters after attending the joint committee meeting on industrial coordination (JBI) in Kota Iskandar here today.

Also present was Johor Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

Malaysia recorded a total trade worth RM842.795 million from January to April this year.

For the same period last year, Johor was third in terms of total trade behind Selangor and Penang.

Miti will facilitate E&E, chemical, and sustainable energy investment in Johor

Tengku Zafrul said the investment momentum in Johor is considered to be positive and growing with the main sectors continuing to be the focus such as electrical and electronics (E&E) and chemicals and petrochemicals.

"Today's meeting also discussed the renewable energy (RE) industry and the workforce, where investors and companies are asked to focus on these two aspects," he added.

The minister also praised the performance and coordination and cooperation of federal agencies and the state government in ensuring that all investments in the state of Johor that had been announced were successfully implemented.

"For example, when investors come, sometimes there are (projects) that cannot be implemented but in Johor, based on the track record, almost 98 percent of the announced projects have been implemented," added Tengku Zafrul.

Meanwhile, Onn Hafiz expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) and the federal and state agencies involved in ensuring investments in Johor are at the best level.

It can also be seen when the state also recorded the highest exports in the country for the period from January to April this year, he added.

"The cooperation among Miti, Mida and agencies under the ministry, together with agencies at the state level such as Invest Johor and local authorities contributed a lot to this investment figure.

"Export value continues to increase because investors want to see how we can help them in terms of efficiency because time is money," he added. - BERNAMA