LONDON – Malaysia is expected to bring in foreign direct investment (FDI) worth billions of ringgit through the Malaysia Digital (MD) initiative, an outcome of consistent involvement of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) at the London Tech Week (LTW).
MDEC chief executive officer Mahadhir Aziz said an announcement on this will be made next week, involving the cooperation of government agencies, strategic partners, and European digital companies in focused areas including digital finance, data technology, digital health, digital marketing, cloud solutions, data centre, cyber security, and digital recruitment agency.
LTW, which is held from June 12-16, is a premier global event which gathers entrepreneurs, investors as well as various industry leaders from across the world to discuss, cooperate and explore the latest trends, innovation and opportunities in the technology and digital sector.
“This is the result of Malaysia’s consistent involvement with digital companies which we have built all this time, with the United Kingdom becoming one of the main contributors to Malaysia’s digital economy,” he said.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who will lead the Malaysian delegation to LTW, is scheduled to witness the signing of more than 10 memoranda of understanding between Malaysian and international companies on Tuesday.
According to Mahadhir, the cooperation would further strengthen Malaysia’s position as a strategic digital technology investment hub, in line with MD focused sectors such as digital health, intelligent cities, agriculture, digital content, and Islamic digital economy.
It is also in tandem with Malaysia’s aspiration to achieve a digital investment target of RM130 billion by 2025, which would contribute 25.5% to the country’s gross domestic product.
The target was reviewed from RM70 billion after the country had successfully achieved RM40 billion investment at the end of 2022.
Meanwhile, this year’s LTW is set to be the biggest yet, with more than 60% attendees from the C-levels and directors.
More than 20,000 visitors are expected to attend the five-day event.
Between meetings and round table sessions with potential investors, associations and regulators, MDEC has also scheduled follow-up meetings with European companies and strategic partners engaged since last year to strengthen Malaysia’s digital investment value proposition and build pipelines with European digital investors. – Bernama, June 11, 2023
