23 July 2010

Sabah seeks to be the location of choice for resurce-based manufacturing – Pairin

QINGDAO: The Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) aims to make the state a leading agri-resource production region in Asia, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said yesterday.

“Agrivulture produce and products will also catalos the development downstream and upstream industries, which will help develop the manufacturing sectors in the state,” he said  at the Qingdao-Sabah State Trade and Investment Seminar here.

Pairin and five ministers and assistant ministers from Sabah were in the 60-member delegation led by Malaysia-China Business Council (MCBC) co-chairman Tun Musa Hitam who came to Jinan, Shandong province, to attend the 7th Annual MCBC Joint Council Meeting with their Chines counterparts from Monday.

Pairin said that under the SDC plan, Sabah will be the location of choice for resource-based manufacturing by 2025, whereby world-class companies will be attracted to anchor and accelerate the growth of downstream activities, leveraging on natural resources such as palm oil, oil and gas, minerals and timber as feedstock.

He said the SDC’s agriculture sector strategy was to focus on increasing overall food self-sufficiency, planting high-value crops for export and increasing exports of high-value agricultural produce and products. Under agriculture development, the state government would leverage Sabah’s biodiversity and agricultural resources to promote high value-added downstream manufacturing activities in palm oil, pharmaceutical and biotech industries, he said.

“Apart from enhancing the lead in palm oil industry, the government will introduce measures to increase food balance of trade via food crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and encourage high value crops for export to North Asia such as cut flowers and orchids herbal and specialty natural products.”

Pairin said the anchor projects include the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster, Sabah Agro-Industrial Precienct, National Marine Aquaculture Centre, Keningau Integrated Livestock Centre and Seafood Terminal.

(Source: The Borneo Post)