Bridging digital divide crucial to boost value chain

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs to build more digital infrastructure and bridge the digital divide, focus on capacity building and best practices, develop skilled workers, and ensuring fair entry into digital trade zones to strengthen its position in the global value chains (GVCs).

Asean-Japan Centre (AJC) has issued Paper 6 of the “Global Value Chains in Asean” series which looked at Malaysia, found that the country’s policies to move up the value chain have led to less dependence on foreign inputs and more use of Malaysian products in other countries’ exports, mostly for parts and components of electrical and electronic equipment.