Japan eyes more trade with Sarawak

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IMPROVING RELATIONS: Nakamura (right) elaborates on Japan’s plans to enhance trade relations with Sarawak. Sitting with the ambassador is managing director and chief executive officer of Taiyo Yuden (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd, Koichi Ando.


 

KUCHING: Japan will continue to invest in Sarawak while fostering closer diplomatic relations and bilateral trade with Malaysia, according to Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Shigeru Nakamura.

Nakamura, a 38-year veteran of the Japanese Foreign Service and ambassador to Malaysia since May 2011, was on his way to pay a courtesy call to chief minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to further discuss strengthening ties with Sarawak.

He emphasised, “Malaysia is a very important country for Japan in terms of trade and investment. I am proud to announce that last year Japan was the top investing country in Malaysia as so many companies are now investing here.

“Even though we had a great disaster last year, Japanese investment in Malaysia increased, with a figure of RM2.6 billion for the first 10 months of 2011.

“Japan is on its way to full recovery so sooner or later, we will prevail again. In this respect, our business activities overseas will help and support the Japanese economy.”

Nakamura noted that since the commencement of his duties nine months ago, he had met and liaised with numerous Malaysian ministers to further strengthen bilateral trade ties and explore future investment opportunities in the country.

Out of the 14,000 Japanese nationals and 1,400 companies present in Malaysia, Sarawak is host to nearly 260 Japanese citizens and 39 companies.

He said he would travel to Bintulu next month to pay a call on Japanese companies which were in the process of constructing their facilities in the upcoming Samalaju Industrial Park which was slated for commencement of operations in the future.

“We are now increasing investments in Sarawak with more coming and we hope that relations with Japan and Sarawak will be enhanced,” he said.

Nakamura indicated that the disruption to factory production in Thailand due to the floods last year had prompted Japanese companies to consider shifting facilities to other countries including Malaysia to better enhance supply chain flow of components.

Similarly, disruption to industrial output caused by the tsunami and earthquake in Japan had brought about talk of shifting production facilities to other parts of the world as well.

In terms of tourism, he said that Sarawak offered attractive destinations rich with natural beauty which had attracted visitors from Japan. Arrivals in Malaysia for last year amounted to 387,366, a boost from 231,253 in 2010.

Meanwhile, Malaysian arrivals in Japan for 2011 was at 81,500 compared with 114,500 for the previous year. Japan was planning to boost its tourism industry via targeting twice the number of visitor arrivals within five to 10 years.

With regards to new areas in trade and investment, he named a few possibilities such as bio-fuels, water supply, waste treatment, medical facilities and medical tourism which could be looked into as additional investment opportunities.

Prior to being appointed ambassador to Malaysia, Nakamura had served with the foreign service in the US, the UK, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. He was no stranger to Malaysia as he had been here several times for business trips.