Strategic Investor Pass, digital nomad policies will attract more FDI and DDI - Tengku Zafrul

KUALA LUMPUR: Streamlined investment promotion functions such as the Strategic Investor Pass (SIP) and the Digital Nomad Professional Visit Pass will improve the ease of doing business and facilitate both foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic direct investment (DDI) in Malaysia.

Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said these three key enablers are crucial to support Malaysia's investment and industrial ecosystem.

This would help enable the country to strategically capitalise on the redesigning of global supply chains which have seen many multinational companies eyeing ASEAN as a re-shoring or friend-shoring destination to better secure their production lines, he said.

"These immediate term initiatives also complement the strategic measures that MITI is currently finalising under the New Industrial Master Plan 2030, which is set to transform the very core of our manufacturing industry and to help position Malaysia as a viable, cost-efficient gateway to the Southeast Asian and Asian markets," Tengku Zafrul said in a statement today.

The facilitation measures were announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today.

Tengku Zafrul said in terms of streamlining the functions of the current 31 investment promotion agencies (IPAs), MITI has been tasked to take the lead in reducing duplicative and overlapping roles and responsibilities among IPAs, while also addressing the various pain points along the investor journey.

He said this will strengthen, among others, the handholding and post-investment care of investors, with a focus on efficiently realising approved FDI and DDI within the shortest possible timeframe.

"The government will also proactively issue the SIP which enables entry into Malaysia on a multiple-entry basis for approved investors.

"This incentive will be facilitated by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority to enable strategic investors to remain in the country for a minimum of five years, with a possible subsequent five-year renewal," Tengku Zafrul said.

Further, to help address critical higher-skill and professional industrial talent shortages, he said the government will extend the scope of the Digital Nomad Professional Visit Pass to cover manufacturing-related skillsets.

-- BERNAMA