KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said that Sarawak ranked first as the preferred investment destination in Malaysia.
This is because investors have confidence in the state government led by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, in the third quarter this year Sarawak has received investments from overseas as well as within the country, the majority being Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” he said.
“We have a clear business-friendly policy and these investors are confident in our political stability,” he added, emphasising that the multicultural and multi-religious people of Sarawak had to be united and work together to ensure that the state remained stable.
He said this when officiating at the Jum Regista Bisnes Sarawakku Sayang Programme (Regista) in Limbang today.
He said one of the foreign investments involved a South Korean company which willingly underwent the 14-day mandatory quarantine in order to conduct a feasibility study for their potential RM2.4 billion investment here.
“This sort of big investments into Sarawak will bring about a spin-off effect to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) here and provide opportunities for them to expand,” said Awang Tengah, who is also Minister of International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development.
He said the government also helped SMEs to market their products outside Sarawak via the establishment of the Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Singapore (Statos). He said similar trade offices would be set up in Brunei Darussalam and Pontianak, Indonesia.
“This is to help our people so that they can penetrate an even wider market,” he said.
At the same time, he said that in order for urban businesses to grow, it was also important to develop rural areas and increase their purchasing power.
“Therefore, we govern Sarawak fairly, namely we want comprehensive development so that everyone can benefit as a whole,” said Awang Tengah.
