GEORGE TOWN, Nov 20 — The United States should remain as the top foreign investor in Malaysia next year amid the encouraging investment trend this year, said US Ambassador to Malaysia, Joseph Y. Yun.

He said more American investments were likely to come to Malaysia next year due to the accelerating activities in the past 12 months including huge investment from US companies namely Darden Restaurants Inc and candy maker Hershey Co.

It was reported that US-based Darden would invest RM1 billion in the world’s first integrated lobster aquaculture park in Sabah, while Hershey would build a RM816 million state-of-the-art confectionery plant in Johor.

Furthermore, Yun said existing American firms operating in Malaysia for the past 40 years were also positive and happy to do business here amid the friendly government.

“They are uniformly positive and keen to expand business in Malaysia including in Penang. They like doing business here due to the good infrastructure, labour and environment as well as business-friendly government at both the federal and local levels,” he said.

He was speaking at a media conference after attending the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce’s Penang Dialogue 2013 here today, which was also attended by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Yun said besides American investments in electrical and electronics (E&E) sector, there were also growing interest by US companies in the healthcare segment.

“There are large interests in healthcare sector which is good for the US to share technology and know-how,” he added.

Yun said Malaysian investments in the US were also growing namely Petronas, Genting and IOI Corp, adding that Khazanah Nasional’s office in San Francisco would be instrumental in attracting more investments from Malaysia.

On the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), Yun stressed that the TPPA was a multi-level negotiation among 12 countries and it was up to each country to manage and consult the discussion.

He pointed out negotiators were not revealing the text on the TPPA, however consultation goes on, adding that Malaysia has a good public discussion on the agreement.

“It is up to each country but there cannot be too many briefings because these momentum are changing,” he said, adding most countries would hold briefings with key stakeholders and decision makers. — Bernama