China and Malaysia will promote exchanges at the provincial level and expand cooperation in an all-round way to raise the bilateral trade value to US$50 billion by 2010.

 

More Chinese enterprises will build factories in Malaysia and readjust the export structure to achieve a more balanced trade between the two countries, Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) said here Wednesday.

 

Malaysia is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

 

Statistics show that China-Malaysia trade volume rose 17 percent in 2005 to reach US$30 billion.

 

China's General Administration of Customs said China-Malaysia trade volume had grown at an annual average rate of 31 percent from 2000 to 2005.

 

Malaysia expects small and medium-sized companies in the two countries to do more business, and more investment on Malaysia's eastern coast and in its northern areas, said Tun Musa Hitam, head of the Malaysia-China Business Council.

 

Malaysia is China's eighth largest trade partner while China is Malaysia's fourth largest trade partner, export destination and source of import.

 

According to official statistics, China has a trade deficit with Malaysia for two decades, but its exports to Malaysia have grown in recent years.

 

Trade volume between the two countries totaled US$16.6 billion in the first half of the year, up 20 percent year on year, with China's trade deficit reaching US$4.4 billion, down 2 percent from last year.

 

In the first six months, China's exports to Malaysia increased by 31 percent, while imports from Malaysia grew by a modest 15 percent.

 

Malaysia signed investment contracts in China worth US$487 million in the first quarter of the year.

 

Up to March 2006, Malaysia had invested in 3,709 projects in China. Contracted capital for these projects exceeded US$10.22 billion and the actual utilized capital came to US$3.9 billion.

 

In the first quarter, China's direct investment in Malaysia totaled US$1.1 million.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2006)