KUCHING: Sarawak is exploring collaborative opportunities with Singapore in the areas of agriculture, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas. He said Singapore has always been a critical and important gateway for Sarawak products and for that reason the Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Singapore (Statos) was set up as part of ongoing efforts by the state government to explore the global market and boost trade.
“We have a very fruitful discussion, revolving around the collaboration between both ministries on the development of agriculture sector in Sarawak. As Sarawak targets to be a net exporter of food product by 2030,” he told reporters after Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education Chee Hong Tat paid a courtesy call on him at his office at Wisma Bapa Malaysia yesterday.
Uggah added the meeting was a follow-up to what had been discussed in Singapore that would lead to a collaboration which will benefit both countries. He pointed out that most of Sarawak’s exports to Singapore are mainly commodities such as rubber, timber and so on. “Now we want to expand to food products as they have a lot of potential. Presently, we are exporting some food products to Singapore and we want to increase the volume.
“We hope we can collaborate with the private sector, and we are trying to develop an anchor company that can help us reach the global market. “We are also looking at working together on research and development of our products. Singapore is well-known for its biotechnology and hightech. Its agricultural sector has reached the Industry 4.0 level,” he said. Uggah also hoped that the state would also find ways to meet Singapore’s standard and regulatory requirements.
“Singapore has its own food authority that regulates the quality of ‘empurau’ fish, livestock, and durians to name a few. Therefore we are inviting their officials to visit Sarawak as we want to know the requirements that must be met by our production facilities. “On the whole, I’m very pleased that we met.
I foresee our agricultural sector has a very bright future by working together with Singapore,” he said. Uggah disclosed that there were three anchor companies (mainly for durians) and he hoped that more companies would collaborate to export not only to Singapore market but also China and Europe. He added that the anchor companies were already well-versed in the standards and requirements, so they would be able to facilitate the export of Sarawak products.
