Kota Kinabalu: Sabah appears to be on China’s radar for investment and growing its regional influence.
A 30-strong delegation under the auspices of the Jilin provincial government is on a five-day investment visit to Sabah, exploring markets in tourism, trading, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.
Businessmen at a briefing by state-owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd were told of the enormous potentials in aggregating numerous natural resources such as pam oil and marine products from the east Asean territories of BIMP-EAGA.
POIC Sabah Group CEO Datuk Fredian Gan said the industrial park complete with its port infrastructure is the ideal staging post.
Jilin’s Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office, Lee Jian Hu, said the information on resources available in the BIMP EAGA territories and POIC Lahad Datu's position as the eastern gateway for Sabah deserves further exploration by China investors.
He was impressed with POIC Lahad Datu and KKIP, promising more state-run and private corporations in Jilin Province would be encouraged to explore business potentials in Sabah and BIMP EAGA.
POIC Sabah’s Business Development Manager Veve Lo gave the briefing which highlighted the company’s intention to develop POIC Lahad Datu into a regional logistics hub for the BIMP EAGA region,
Jilin is located in northeast China. It is more than twice the size of Sabah and eight-and-a-half times more population at over 27 million. It has a robust industrial scene with several massive industrial parks producing anything from pharmaceutical products to high-speed trains.
The province’s southern region borders North Korea and, unsurprisingly, is known to produce much ginseng and has a sizable population of Korean ethnicity.
Jilin is also known as a centre for Chinese medicine-based pharmaceuticals, a sector well represented in the delegation visiting Sabah.
The visit came in the wake of a series of news regarding China businesses hitting Sabah shores, including a billion-ringgit solar panel investment at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), collaboration with the China Construction Bank and closing in on investments by Zhejiang’s Zanyu Technology Group and Shandong Port Group.
Later this week, a Sabah delegation would visit Shenzhen, China and Seoul, South Korea, as a continuing effort to woo foreign investments.
The group led by Lee arrived on Wednesday and called on Chief Minister Datuk Seri Haji Hajiji Noor, visited KKIP, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and met with officials of the Ministry of Industrial Development & Entrepreneurship, the Sabah State Railway, Sabah Economic Advisory Council and Invest Sabah Berhad.
They were scheduled to meet with officials of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and leaders of local business groups.
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