KUCHING: The private sector must identify market opportunities while adapting to the new norm that came about due to the need to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic, advised Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said that Sarawak was fortunate in the sense that it had a resource-based economy, meaning that it just had to accelerate its production process during this post Covid-19 economic recovery phase.
“The private sector must identify market opportunities. At the end of the day, it is the market that determines their survival. So they must analyse the potential in the market,” he said.
He was speaking during yesterday’s (June 9) webinar session entitled ‘Post Covid-19: Sarawak The New Normal’ hosted by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) and moderated by MPC director-general Datuk Abdul Latif Abu Seman.
He highlighted two sectors which he believed were promising. One is agriculture, related to food security, and the other is renewable energy.
He emphasised that the private sector must be able to analyse such potential in order to play their part in the changing world.
“In terms of pricing, food prices must be reasonable and affordable in the market. This is why we want to emphasise commercial agriculture. The market is quite large,” he said.
He explained that for Sarawak, regions such as China, India, and East Asia were within about six hours of flight.
“If we have the opportunity to make products demanded by these markets, the potential is there.”
With regard to renewable energy, Abang Johari said that Sarawak could look into the forestry sector as trees could be replanted.
He said that he would consult experts on how to accelerate the production of trees-based raw materials which could become a source of renewable energy, pointing out that the state was also now venturing into hydrogen as an energy source.
“This means that renewable energy is available and we have the resources; we just have to develop them,” he said.
On how trees as a renewable resource could be balanced with forest protection, he said that the state must have an aggressive and persistent policy on reforestation and afforestation.
He noted that some timber industry players in the private sector had been willing to replant trees while others had not.
Abang Johari said that the Sarawak Economic Action Council (SEAC) would deliberate on and recommend the best method to carry out afforestation.
