THE government is committed to providing a stable business environment for investors and looking at opening more opportunities for their involvement, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

At a dialogue session in Cyberjaya with the French business community in Malaysia, the prime minister said the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 will provide opportunities for foreign companies to participate and benefit.

“Our GDP (gross domestic product) is forecast to grow at 4.8% this year despite these challenging times. With good fiscal discipline, our budget deficit will narrow to 3.2% this year.

“We are committed to providing a stable business environment for investors. We will be business-friendly.

“In fact, we will revive our Malaysia Incorporated policy, which means close cooperation between the government and private sector.”

He said Malaysia placed 12th in the World Bank’s ease of doing business report this year, up from 15th spot in 2019.

The country will continue to embrace the “5Cs” – clarity, consistency, certainty, confidence and continuity – of doing business, he added.

Dr Mahathir said quality infrastructure has been built and upgraded not just in the Klang Valley, but also Penang, Johor and other parts of the country.

“More is coming, and there are certainly more opportunities for French companies to avail themselves of.”

He said Malaysia welcomes expatriates and foreign talent, and provides resident passes and various jobs for high-skilled and specialised professionals.

The prime minister urged French businesses to participate in trade expos that will be held as part of the 2020 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit to be hosted by Kuala Lumpur in November.

“I would like to encourage all of you to participate in any way you can. We will hold trade expos, so you can exhibit your products to the businesses and people of Asean countries.

“The world is changing and a new order is emerging, which Malaysia and France have a lot to gain (from) by working together.

“You can count on the support of the Malaysian government to facilitate this objective, and I look forward to hearing feedback from the French business community.”

Trade figures from Paris last year showed an increase of 11.4% in Malaysian exports to France in 2018, reaching more than RM11 billion.

Malaysia, meanwhile, registered a trade surplus with France of almost RM2 billion, up 73% from 2017. – February 10, 2020.