HAMBURG, GERMANY, March 11 (NNN-BERNAMA) -- The continuous flow of investments in high-technology industries from Germany is helping Malaysia realise its aspirations to emerge a developed nation in less than 10 years, says Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamad.

Malaysia's emergence as an advanced nation will, among other factors, be built on highly-skilled human capital, says Mustapa, who is here on the second leg of a trade and investment mission to Europe.

Malaysia, he said here Wedesday, was keen to attract more German investments in the hi-tech industrial sector as Germany was known for its hi-tech expertise in the automotive and aviation sectors as well as in aeronautical maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services.

Mustapa added that incentives tailored to investors' needs, particulary of German companies engaged in specialised fields, would focus on hi-tech skilled manpower.

"Malaysia can no longer provide cheap labour. in fact, we ourselves are relying on foreign manpower and we are moving towards a high-income economy," he said, adding that Malaysia wanted to be involved in technology transfer in specialised fields with Germany.

Germany is Malaysia's biggest trade partner among the 27 members of the European Union (EU), with total trade amounting to 9.45 billion USD last year, or 30 per cent of the total trade with the EU.

Germany is also the second biggest export destination among EU member countries, with total Malaysian exports to this country at 4.21 billion USD, or 24.7 per cent of total exports to EU.

Up to December last year, German companies had implemented 320 projects worth 5.8 billion USD in Malaysia. Their main investment areas were petroleum and petrochemical products; electrical and electronics; chemical and chemical products; metal-based products and rubber products.

Currently, there are over 350 German companies operating in Malaysia, with Behn Mayer being the first to set up base in 1891. Big names from Germany's corporate world like Siemens, Robert Bosch, BMW, Deutsche Bank, Allianz, OSRAM are all present in Malaysia.

Mustapa's eight-day mission to three European cities started in Amsterdam four days ago and will end in Birmingham, Britain, on Saturday. -- NNN-BERNAMA