KUALA LUMPUR: Approved investments from China into Malaysia are expected to exceed US$1bil (RM3.15bil) this year from more than US$900mil (RM2.8bil) last year, said Embassy of the People's Republic of China to Malaysia economic counsellor Wu Zhengping.

"Establishments such as the Qingzhou and Kuantan industrial parks create a new two-way investment model between our two countries," Wu said.

He said there were other investments at the exploration stage including a cement factory as well as a clean energy system, in which electricity is generated from garbage.

Speaking at a the "RMB Globalisation - Milestones and Future Prospects'' conference in Kuala Lumpur, Wu said it was possible to bring the bilateral trade volume between Malaysia and China to US$160bil (RM513bil) by 2017.

"It has after all grown from US$200mil to US$106bil in the last 30 years," he said.

He said China had been Malaysia's largest trading partner for five consecutive years with Malaysia being China's largest trading partner in the Asean countries for six consecutive years.

"Increasingly, more Chinese companies are eyeing opportunities in Malaysia," he added.

Trade volume between both countries reached US$106bil (RM339.7bil) last year, making Malaysia the third country in Asia to have bilateral trade with China that surpassed the US$100bil (RM320.7bil) trade volume, after Japan and South Korea.

Bank Negara has since 2010 taken the yuan into its foreign-currency reserves.

Two years ago, it renewed its currency swap arrangement with China, expanding from 80 billion yuan (RM41bil) to 180 billion yuan (RM92.4bil). Swift data statistics show the total yuan clearing amount in Malaysia hit 1.15 trillion yuan n the first half of the year, up 104.5% from last year.

"The momentum for yuan business in Malaysia should be led by the private sector.

"Hopefully our private sector can learn from German and French companies, which have successfully incorporated the yuan into their treasury operations," said Bank Negara assistant governor Norzila Abdul Aziz.

In the first half of 2014, Bank of China Malaysia facilitated 24,057 yuan transactions with the settlement volume of 703.4 billion yuan.

By CHERYL POO - thestar.com.my

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