Image credit: Malay Mail
KUCHING (May 26): The Sarawak government will establish InvestSARAWAK as a One-Stop Agency for all investments and trades in Sarawak to further improve the ease of doing business in the state, says Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.
He said this is important to facilitate and expedite the decision-making process with regard to any proposals by investors for both foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic direct investment (DDI).
He said InvestSARAWAK couldn’t have come at a better time because of the stiff competition for FDI not only from other countries but also from the other states in Malaysia.
“This approach will also enable the government to identify emerging technologies and business opportunities with strategic fit to Sarawak’s competitive advantages,” he said in his winding up speech today.
Awang Tengah, who is also Minister of International Trade, Industry and Investment said the state’s external trade continued to record surpluses despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sarawak’s total trade in 2021 (provisional figures) registered an expansion of 26.85 per cent to RM149.77 billion compared to RM118.08 billion in 2020.
Total exports in 2021 were RM100.26 billion as against RM77.20 billion in 2020, while imports were RM49.52 billion against RM40.87 billion in 2020.
“There is an increase all round in traded items with our major trading partners such as Japan, China, Peninsular Malaysia, South Korea and India.
“With the participation of Malaysia in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in March 2022, there will be more opportunities for Sarawak exporters to increase trade volume with Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, apart from the nine Asean countries,” he said.
Awang Tengah said RCEP would benefit Malaysian companies by offering market access to one third of the world’s population for intra-regional sourcing of raw materials at preferential rates; integrating supply chain within the RCEP region; promoting greater transparency, information sharing, trade facilitation, economic co-operation and standardisation of international rules relating to E-commerce; mutually recognising international standards and technical regulations in relation to trade; and providing clarity in protection of intellectual property rights.
Source: https://www.theborneopost.com/2022/05/26/state-govt-to-set-up-investsarawak-for-ease-of-doing-business/