KUCHING, Sept 7: The Sarawak government is encouraging the creative industries to bloom and take a progressive direction with aims to organise more creative arts and culture events.
Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah emphasised that arts and culture offer was essential to attract domestic and international investments into the state, particularly from the creative industries.
“In recent years, Sarawak has been working very hard to carve a niche in the highly competitive tourism industry but we are blessed with our abundant natural environment, exotic cultures and excellent tourism facilities that have created so much value for our international and domestic visitors,” he said.
“This is why my Ministry has been aggressive in organising wonderful tourism events because we have the undivided support from the state government as well as Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg in order to achieve our goal and objectives,” he added.
Karim highlighted this when officiating at the inaugural Best of Asean Designers 2019 (BOAD2019) held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here on Saturday night (Sept 7).
On the same note, he also assured that the state government’s commitment to attract investments for tourism infrastructure as well as to improve Sarawak’s air accessibility to international visitors.
This, he pointed out, would uplift Sarawak’s tourist service quality standards in order to be on par, if not better with other destinations in this region.
Karim also praised the organisers and participants of BOAD2019 for their commitment in organising and holding the prestigious fashion show in Kuching City.
With participants consisting of designers from China, Indonesia, Singapore and other countries from the Asean region, he emphasised that the hosting of BOAD2019 in Kuching augured well with the state’s tourism promotion agenda.
“We seek to position Sarawak as a vibrant and exciting destination for both national and international fashion, arts and creative events.
“Through this event, we are also able to showcase the uniqueness of our arts and culture to our friends and guests from Asean and other parts of the world,” he stressed.
Also in attendance were Abang Johari and wife Datuk Amar Juma’ani Tun Tuanku Bujang, who witnessed mock cheques presentation to various charitable bodies in the state.
Organiser Creative TeamLab Sdn Bhd contributed RM20,000 to Sri Satok Community Rehabilitation Centre and RM10,000 to Sarawak Forestry for its conservation efforts.
Apart from that, individual Dr Teoh Eng Keat from Penang also contributed RM5,000 to Sarawak Forestry for its turtle conservation efforts.— DayakDaily
