KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30: Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) has approved a total of 1,120 manufacturing projects with investments worth RM137.3 billion in Sarawak as at September 2018.
These projects have created over 175,000 job opportunities, mainly in the natural gas, chemical and chemical products, basic metal products, petroleum products (including petrochemicals) and electronics and electrical products sectors.
“Being the largest of all 13 states in Malaysia, there are certainly many reasons for companies to base their operations in Sarawak.
“There is already a strong presence of MNCs and large local corporations (LLCs) in the state. These companies, such as Petronas, OCIM, LONGi, X-Fab and Press Metal, hold much promise for business collaborations and opportunities,” said Mida’s Strategic Planning and Development Division senior executive director Zabidi Mahbar during the Mida Invest Series: Unfolding States’ Business Potential held here yesterday at Mida headquarters.
Zabidi added that Mida had set-up a dedicated team, namely the Investment Coordination Platform (ICP) to facilitate companies to grow their businesses and investment portfolio since last year.
The unit works closely with equity and corporate advisory firms as well as local regulators and technology providers in assisting companies to conduct business-to-business matching, capital raising exercise through debt and equity, M&A, divestment and initial public listing or IPO.
“We urge all interested parties to discuss with Mida on how they can be facilitated in these areas,” said Zabidi in a statement.
Another initiative introduced by Mida is the i-Services Portal, which is a single market place to link investors and companies interested to source for domestic services from local service providers.
Local service providers are encouraged to register their business in the portal as it will help them to expand their markets and further boost business activities.
The Invest Series featured a briefing by Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Industrial & Entrepreneur Development of Sarawak Datu Liaw Soon Eng.
The event attracted over 250 participants ranging from embassies, business chambers and associations as well as industry players from the services and manufacturing sector. — DayakDaily
