DUBAI: Sabah wants to learn from advanced countries on the preservation and conservation of the environment, said state Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam.
"In Malaysia, especially Sabah, we are still talking about how to develop our people and the basic infrastructures.
"But they are now talking about preservation and conservation, so this is what we(in Sabah) are trying to emulate in the future," he said, referring to Japan, which had highlighted its theme of moving forward to a better future at the World Dubai Expo 2020.
Japan, which showcased its cutting-edge technologies, will be the next to host the
Joachim, who is also the state Infrastructure Development Minister, was met at the end of Sabah Week from Dec 20-24 at the Malaysia Pavilion.
The state's delegation to the expo comprised of 40 business delegates from 14 companies involved in tourism, Small and Medium Enterprises and product manufacturers.
"We hope to get sales and investments from participating in the expo," he said. "Sabah is hoping to achieve RM24 million sales for its locally-made products and RM25 million in investments as well as 50,000 tourists."
Besides Japan, Joachim and his officials including assistant minister Mohd Tamin Zainal and ministry permanent secretary Thomas Logijin also visited the Germany, India, South Korea and Hungary pavilions, Saudi Arabia, USA, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and many others, to learn from their advancement in technologies and conservation.
"We chose to visit these countries because they are very advanced in terms of development and we want to see how they rose to this level," he said.
For example, he cited India as an example of a country which had advanced so much and produced many scientists in information and communication technology.
Similarly, he said China has rapidly developed in the past 20 years and is now on the same level with the USA in terms of economics.
"This is why we need to meet them and visit their pavilions to see what they do," he said.
Earlier,they also visited the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) office at the Consulate General of Malaysia to learn about business strategies.
"We have discovered a few problems for our products to be exported to the Middle East market such as putting Arabic words on the packaging, so they can be easily read.
"Of course (the Middle East) can read English, but if they (entrepreneurs) do it in Arabic, it will be easier to market, said our ambassador," he added.
He said Sabah also needs help from Matrade to get distributors in Dubai to market its products.
Meanwhile, Matrade consul for trade Omar Mohd Salleh in his briefing encouraged Sabah entrepreneurs to explore the niche coffee market in the Gulf countries.
"The Arabs like to drink special coffee and it can be distributed for instance to Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
"We also encouraged Malaysian companies to test the market via online first because this is the easiest market penetration to see how the response to the product is," he said.
Online business is thriving because UAE is currently the most advanced e-commerce market in the Middle East with an estimated annual growth of 23 percent between 2018 and 2022, he added.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/12/757987/sabah-wants-learn-environmental-preservation-advanced-countries