Sabah pitches business opportunities for domestic, foreign investors in KL

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam was in the nation’s capital, hoping to woo local and foreign companies to invest in the state.

Gunsalam, who is also the state Industrial Development Minister, was accompanied by officials from several key business-related state bodies as he spoke at a forum at the Westin Hotel on Monday (Aug 8).

Entitled “Investment Opportunities in Sabah Industrial Parks under the Industrial Development Ministry (MID)”, the forum was jointly organised by his ministry and Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

Gunsalam said the objective of the forum was to show the local and foreign investors what Sabah could offer to potential investors through the various presentations and sharing by the state bodies.

Among others, they comprised Invest Sabah Berhad, the Department of Industrial Development and Research as well as the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) Lahad Datu and Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP).

“Today, I’m here to try and persuade potential investors to invest in Sabah. I’m sure my ministry can provide all the information needed,” he said in a statement here on Tuesday (Aug 9).

He hoped the initiative could prompt companies or organisations to set up further discussions with the ministry, as well as the industrial parks representatives on investing in Sabah.

Gunsalam said the forum is part of efforts to promote the state as an investment destination because Sabah offers great advantages for investors to do business.

About 200 participants attended the half-day forum.

“That’s why MID formed a special task force. This task force consisting of both state and Federal ministries, departments and agencies will assist to expedite all approvals needed,” he said.

Apart from looking after the development of the industrial sector in Sabah, he said, his ministry was also given the task to propel the entrepreneurs from small scale into exporting their products overseas or internationally.

To achieve this goal, Gunsalam said the MID will strategically assist all the entrepreneurs by empowering and strengthening the small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs).

He said the ministry will also provide flexibility and facilitate assistance or financing, improve the quality of SMEs products, strengthen product marketing performance capabilities to the global level and optimise production capacity and capability through Industry 4.0 Technology.

Also present were the MID permanent secretary Thomas Logijin, Invest Sabah Berhad CEO Datuk Madiyem Layapan, POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd CEO Datuk Fredian Gan, Department of Industrial Development and Research director Tseu Kei Yue, KKIP Sdn Bhd CEO Lawrence Guandi Kimkuan and FMM Sabah chairman James Ha.

Besides that, there were also foreign envoys representing the United Arab Emirates, Japan, the Czech Republic, Netherlands, China, France, Indonesia, as well as from Royal Thai and Wallonia Trade and Investment Agency.

There were also some Malaysian companies present such as Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, CAIQTest Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Cameron Consultant Limited.

Meanwhile, Gunsalam also took part in a visit to a food-processing factory operated by Hexa Food Sdn Bhd in Selangor later the same day.

The visit was aimed at learning the work process and technology used by the company which can be applied by factories in the same sector in Sabah.