KUCHING: About 600 participants are attending the two-day Sarawak China Business Forum being held at Waterfront Hotel here. The forum aims to create awareness of what is involved in the export and import trade with China including the regulations and procedures of doing trade and e-comerce.
23 prominent international and local speakers who are experts in their related fields will share their knowledge and experiences in enhancing and developing business opportunities in Sarawak and China. “Sarawak and China’s bilateral relationships dated back to the 15th Century when Chinese Admiral, Cheng Ho explored South East Asia.
Malaysia established diplomatic ties with China 44 years ago. “Currently, business collaborations between China and Sarawak are in LNG (Liquefied natural gas) and petroleum products, palm oil, timber products and electrical components, manufactured goods, machinery and food, “The value of trade between Sarawak and China was recorded to be RM15.8 billion in 2017.
Sarawak’s exports to China amounted to RM10.1 billion while its imports amounted to RM5.7 billion in 2017,” revealed Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Johari Tun Openg when launching the forum yesterday.
He said Sarawak and China had signed numerous Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on investments, trade and economic cooperation, namely, with Yunnan Province Department of Commerce, Fujian Province in recent years to strengthen business collaborations.
“The most prominent one recently was with Xian LONGi Materials with an estimated investment of RM1.06 billion and also with Comtec Solar Systems Group Ltd with an estimated investment value of RM1.2 billion.
“The collaborations between Sarawak and China were not only in the areas of economic and trade, but also covered the fields of tourism, culture and education, for example, the Friendship City Agreement between Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) and Dali City, education cooperation between Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and Yunnan University as well as literary cooperation between Pustaka Negeri Sarawak and Yunnan Provincial Library.
“The Chief Minister’s Department also has an MOU with Huawei in assisting the state in digital training and Infrastructure,” he said.
Abang Johari added China was leading in innovations and showcases of how the digital economy had accelerated its economic transformation. “China is now home to some of the biggest names in e-commerce and online retail commerce. Names like Jack Ma need no introduction and everyone wants to be the next Jack Ma. “Sarawak believes there are opportunities for us to learn from China in transforming the state economy through digital economy.
The Small and Medium Industries (SMEs) need to benchmark or adopt similar business models in order to be successful in e-commerce. With online presence, the world is our market,” he pointed out. Abang Johari added that China and Sarawak also shared similar challenges in engaging the rural community in e-commerce.
“With high penetration of mobile phone users in Malaysia and in Sarawak in particular, we need innovative solutions to reach out to the people in the rural areas. “We believe these are some of the areas that Sarawak and China can work together. Other areas of cooperation are services in agriculture, tourism, health, education, construction of mega structures and e-commerce platforms.” Added the Chief Minister, “With the 4th Industrial Revolution, things are going to move faster and we need to measure up or be left behind.
“Sarawak has launched the digital economy strategies to enable the state to plan ahead and anticipate the necessary capacity and infrastructure.” As China was a strong ally of Sarawak in business as well as culture, Abang Johari was confident that with its support and cooperation, the state would be able to realise the transformation of its economy through the digital economy initiatives.
Thirty info desks were set up in conjunction with the forum to share business technologies, services and products by industry players and government agencies. Also present at the official launching ceremony yesterday were Second Minister of Finance and Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce, Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Consul General of the People ‘s Republic of China in Kuching, Cheng Guangzhong, State Secretary, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Assistant Minister of E-Commerce and Assistant Minister of Entrepreneur and Small, Medium Enterprise (SME) Development , Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais.
