‘Johor gets most FDI in manufacturing from S’pore’

Lee: Jetco is working towards ensuring better coordination of initiatives next year

ABOUT 70% of foreign direct investment (FDI) Johor has received in the manufacturing sector is from Singapore, says state investment, trade and consumer affairs committee chairman Lee Ting Han.

Speaking during the state assembly sitting in Kota Iskandar, he said a large part of this was because of the Johor Economic, Trade and Cultural Office’s (Jetco) success in engaging with various agencies in Singapore to attract more investors into the state.

The foreign injection was also aided by Malaysian Investment Development Board (Mida) and Invest Johor, he said.

“As at June, FDI for the manufacturing sector was RM5.65bil, where about 70% or close to RM4bil came from Singapore, mostly in the electric and electronics (E&E) as well as medical equipment sectors.

“So far, Jetco has held 15 discussion and three familiarisation sessions where we bring investors from Singapore to visit the state.

“We will intensify our efforts to bring more investors to Johor next year,” he said in response to R. Vidyananthan (BN-Kahang) who wanted to know about Jetco’s effectiveness in bringing in investors from Singapore.

Lee said Jetco, established in October 2020, carried out various initiatives through collaboration with agencies in Singapore this year to get more investments for Johor.

“Apart from dialogue sessions involving about 15 agencies from Singapore, Jetco has also participated in three tourism and trade expos in the island republic.

“Officers from Jetco were also involved in Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz’s visit to Singa-pore in April this year,” Lee added.

To ensure better coordination of initiatives next year, Jetco organised focus group discussions with the relevant agencies last month.

“Based on the discussions, several initiatives have been planned, including collaboration to increase food production, training more educators in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and sharing of best practices on sustainable city and community,” said Lee.

He was replying to a question from Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad (BN-Benut) on initiatives to be carried out by Jetco to increase collaboration between Johor and Singapore, especially in terms of sustainable development.