KUCHING, Jan 8: The China-Asean Chamber of Agricultural Commerce (CACAC) has been urged to help Sarawak capture and penetrate more diverse markets in China.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas pointed out that Sarawak sees China as a very important market and thus a strong collaboration with CACAC was crucial to work towards making Sarawak the net exporter of food and food products by 2030.
“The CACAC is a very important international organisation in China dedicated to promoting co-operation in agricultural products, capacity, technology and trade,” he acknowledged when welcoming the CACAC delegation to his office today.
Led by China National Agricultural Means of Production Group Corporation vice chairman Zang Xuhong, the delegation comprised CACAC vice secretary general Wang Xiaojing aas well as Regal International Group Ltd chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Dominic Su Chung Jye.
Uggah, who is also Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development (MANRED), pointed out that one of the main challenges was for products from Sarawak to meet China’s stringent food security standard.
“Please keep us informed of any changes. This is one area we can work together on. We have in the past, now and then encountered some problems when exporting our bird’s nest to China,” he explained.
Emphasising that Sarawak would focus more on food crops production for export now, he welcomes Chinese investors to invest in developing the sector as well as expressing Sarawak keen interest on technology transfer.
In his speech, Zhang highlighted that CACAC, among others, aimed to promote agricultural, economic, trade, technological and cultivate co-operation between China and Asean countries.
“We are also interested in business and development collaborations in the agricultural sector in the state,” he said, adding that it was the trend for many Chinese cooperatives to invest overseas.
As such, he emphasised that among the objectives of this visit was to gain better insights and understanding about the agricultural development situation in Sarawak as well as to look for opportunities in investments and collaborations.
“Assessing potential future collaborations, we want to know what technologies, fertilisers, machinery and others may be needed in Sarawak. For example, China has developed very good technology for growing wet paddy,” he added. —DayakDaily
