Malaysian Ambassador to Myanmar Datuk Dr Ahmad Faisal Muhamad said currently Malaysia was the seventh largest investor in Myanmar.
"We are working to further strengthen our economic relations with the opening up of the Myanmar economy. We hope in the near future our trade and investment levels would increase," he told Bernama.
Ahmad Faisal said most of the Malaysian companies in Myanmar have invested in the oil and gas sector.
Other important sectors are trading, tourism and plantations.
"We are also seeing more companies from Malaysia looking at Myanmar to set up production plants," he said.
Myanmar also offers huge business potentials and opportunities, especially in the infrastructure and property development sectors.
According to the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Myanmar-Malaysia two-way total trade touched US$455.448 billion in 2011-2012.
Total Myanmar exports to Malaysia amounted to US$152.038 billion in 2011-2012 while imports from Malaysia during the same period totalled US$303.410 billion.
Myanmar's 10 main export items to Malaysia are rubber, fish, prawns, sesame, clothes, timber, tamarind, green gram, pigeon peas and corn.
Its main imports from Malaysia are oil, raw plastics ware, petroleum products, chemical products, metal construction appliances, wires, wedical products, electrical and electronic machineries, mechanical appliances and crops oil.
Myanmar is also paying special attention to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) inside the country.
A new SME legislation is pending in the National Assembly and the Ministry of Industry recently established a SME Development Centre.
SMEs registered in the country represented 92 per cent of enterprises, contributing 80 per cent to its gross domestic product.
Ahmad Faisal said Myanmar and Malaysia are also engaged in technical cooperation.
Under the Malaysia Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP), Myanmar is receiving technical assistance from Malaysia in many fields.
On the 24th Asean Summit that will be held here over the weekend, Ahmad Faisal said Myanmar was doing very well in preparing for the two-day summit.
To assist Myanmar, Malaysia has trained 150 Myanmar government officials with the knowledge and skills to prepare them for the Asean Chairmanship under the MTCP.
He said Asean member states have conveyed their strong support and cooperation to Myanmar, which is assuming the Asean chairmanship for the first time this year since joining the regional grouping in 1997.
Malaysia and Myanmar established diplomatic relations in 1957 and have a close and friendly relationship characterised by an excellent network of cooperation in various fields including trade and investment, technical cooperation, human capital development, banking and finance, defence, tourism, plantation, sports and hydrocarbon exploration.
source: Bernama
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