Malaysia is working on streamlining the roles of its investment promotion agencies to improve the ease of doing business in the country and speed up business approvals, according to the Trade Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

The trade ministry’s goal is to provide investors with a “simple journey” by defining clear roles and responsibilities for each approving authority, Zafrul said at joint venture announcement between Malaysian carmaker Proton and Aapico Hitech on Monday.

Malaysia is seeking to build on its strengths in the electrical and electronics space to lure investments amid competition from peers in Southeast Asia. The country attracted 71.4 billion ringgit ($15 billion) in approved investments in the first quarter of 2023, up by more than 60% from a year ago, official data show. Foreign Direct Investment made up more than half of the flows.

“I would like to invite both existing and new investors to share their experience and suggestions on how we can eliminate pain points and vastly improve the investor’s journey in Malaysia,” Zafrul said.

READ HERE: Malaysia Woos Microsoft, Google to Bolster Data Hub Ambitions