MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Sabah gateway to palm oil investment opportunities
Sabah gateway to palm oil investment opportunities
25/5/07 (Daily Express ) - Kota Kinabalu: Sabah is the gateway to palm oil investment opportunities, said Assistant Minister of Industrial Development, Hjh Jainab Datuk Hj Ahmad Ayid Thursday.
She said more specifically, investment and business opportunities abound in the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu.
She said the State Government established POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd to boost the oil-palm sector.
"POIC is a wholly-owned company of the State Government, under the purview of the Ministry of Industrial Development. It is committed to spearheading the development of oil-palm industrial clusters at strategic locations in the state.
"Beginning with Lahad Datu, future sites are planned for Sandakan and Kimanis," she said.
Jainab was speaking at the gathering to brief a 22-member delegation from the Quangdong Nan Hai National United Women's Association and the Nan Hai Women Entrepreneurs Association at the Sabah Trade Centre here.
It was organised by POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd in collaboration with the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) Women Wing.
She described the women's visit as all the more significant, given Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) this year.
She urged POIC to convince the visiting group led by Huangliyi (who is President of the Quangdong Nan Hai National United Women's Association) to invest in the palm oil industrial cluster in Lahad Datu.
Huangliyi is also Advisor to the Nan Hai Women Entrepreneurs Association headed by Liangfengyi.
"The POIC provides countless investment opportunities for both downstream and upstream activities within the palm oil sector. Investors will definitely benefit from attractive returns," she said. Jainab said Sabah has a number of chambers of commerce and industry which can assist if the Chinese women entrepreneurs are keen to invest in Sabah's industries.
She expressed optimism that Sabah and China can also work together in the realm of trading activities or even joint venture business operations.
"We have the natural resources. You (China) have a bigger market and we would like to tap this potential in tandem with a globalised economy."
She said Sabah is strategically located in relation to China, enhanced by the existence of two airports, adding that Sabah is safe with the presence of the Sepanggar Naval Base.
On a similar note, the Assistant Minister said linguistic differences should not be made a barrier to efforts to promote foreign investments in the POIC.
"I visited Beijing and Shanghai last year. I was very impressed with the tremendous changes there. Malaysians in Sabah are trying to emulate you by establishing networking with the business community there.
I had no problem with communication as my Tionghua friends became my translators."
Earlier, President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), Datuk Sari Tan told the delegation that Malaysia is the world's leading producer of oil-palm.
Malaysia together with Indonesia accounts for 86 per cent of the world's oil-palm production.
"And Sabah is the largest oil-palm planted state (in the country) with 1.24 million hectares or 30 per cent of the total planted area."
On Sabah's pluspoints that facilitate investment in POIC, Sari said the Assistant Minister of Industrial Development is a woman and there are direct flights from Quangdong to Kota Kinabalu.
The briefing on investment opportunities in POIC Lahad Datu by POIC officials followed a letter from the leaders of Quangdong Nan Hai National United Women's Organisation and Nan Hai Women Entrepreneurs Association to FCAS Women Wing Chairperson Datuk Agnes Shim.
"The two bodies are under the auspices of a national scheme to raise the socio-economic status of women entrepreneurs. They wrote personally to me to inform that they were coming to Sabah on a study mission. Since the POIC in Lahad Datu provides a broad range of investment and business opportunities in both downstream and upstream industries, I felt that it would be ideal for POIC to hold a session with the China delegation of women entrepreneurs," she said.
Shim said every journey to success begins with the first step, and the women entrepreneurs have taken that crucial step.
"Hopefully, their maiden visit will pave the way for the establishment of business linkages with their Sabah counterparts."
Also present at the function were the General Manager of POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd, Michael Yong, Honorary Life President of FCAS, Datuk Chau Tet On, President of the Federation of Sabah Manufacturers, Datuk Wong Khen Thau, President of the United Sabah Chinese Communities Association of Kota Kinabalu, DatuK Lau Kok Sing, representatives from the Sabah Bumiputera Chamber of Commerce and Industry, President of the Sabah Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals Association (Swepa), Doris Lim, Advisor to Swepa Datuk Nancy Ho, Advisor to the Women Small and Medium Enterprises (WSME) Association of Malaysia, Datuk Adeline Leong and representatives from the Beaufort Chinese Women Association.
The Swepa delegation was particularly interested in getting to know their Chinese counterparts' business operations.
She said more specifically, investment and business opportunities abound in the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu.
She said the State Government established POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd to boost the oil-palm sector.
"POIC is a wholly-owned company of the State Government, under the purview of the Ministry of Industrial Development. It is committed to spearheading the development of oil-palm industrial clusters at strategic locations in the state.
"Beginning with Lahad Datu, future sites are planned for Sandakan and Kimanis," she said.
Jainab was speaking at the gathering to brief a 22-member delegation from the Quangdong Nan Hai National United Women's Association and the Nan Hai Women Entrepreneurs Association at the Sabah Trade Centre here.
It was organised by POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd in collaboration with the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) Women Wing.
She described the women's visit as all the more significant, given Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) this year.
She urged POIC to convince the visiting group led by Huangliyi (who is President of the Quangdong Nan Hai National United Women's Association) to invest in the palm oil industrial cluster in Lahad Datu.
Huangliyi is also Advisor to the Nan Hai Women Entrepreneurs Association headed by Liangfengyi.
"The POIC provides countless investment opportunities for both downstream and upstream activities within the palm oil sector. Investors will definitely benefit from attractive returns," she said. Jainab said Sabah has a number of chambers of commerce and industry which can assist if the Chinese women entrepreneurs are keen to invest in Sabah's industries.
She expressed optimism that Sabah and China can also work together in the realm of trading activities or even joint venture business operations.
"We have the natural resources. You (China) have a bigger market and we would like to tap this potential in tandem with a globalised economy."
She said Sabah is strategically located in relation to China, enhanced by the existence of two airports, adding that Sabah is safe with the presence of the Sepanggar Naval Base.
On a similar note, the Assistant Minister said linguistic differences should not be made a barrier to efforts to promote foreign investments in the POIC.
"I visited Beijing and Shanghai last year. I was very impressed with the tremendous changes there. Malaysians in Sabah are trying to emulate you by establishing networking with the business community there.
I had no problem with communication as my Tionghua friends became my translators."
Earlier, President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), Datuk Sari Tan told the delegation that Malaysia is the world's leading producer of oil-palm.
Malaysia together with Indonesia accounts for 86 per cent of the world's oil-palm production.
"And Sabah is the largest oil-palm planted state (in the country) with 1.24 million hectares or 30 per cent of the total planted area."
On Sabah's pluspoints that facilitate investment in POIC, Sari said the Assistant Minister of Industrial Development is a woman and there are direct flights from Quangdong to Kota Kinabalu.
The briefing on investment opportunities in POIC Lahad Datu by POIC officials followed a letter from the leaders of Quangdong Nan Hai National United Women's Organisation and Nan Hai Women Entrepreneurs Association to FCAS Women Wing Chairperson Datuk Agnes Shim.
"The two bodies are under the auspices of a national scheme to raise the socio-economic status of women entrepreneurs. They wrote personally to me to inform that they were coming to Sabah on a study mission. Since the POIC in Lahad Datu provides a broad range of investment and business opportunities in both downstream and upstream industries, I felt that it would be ideal for POIC to hold a session with the China delegation of women entrepreneurs," she said.
Shim said every journey to success begins with the first step, and the women entrepreneurs have taken that crucial step.
"Hopefully, their maiden visit will pave the way for the establishment of business linkages with their Sabah counterparts."
Also present at the function were the General Manager of POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd, Michael Yong, Honorary Life President of FCAS, Datuk Chau Tet On, President of the Federation of Sabah Manufacturers, Datuk Wong Khen Thau, President of the United Sabah Chinese Communities Association of Kota Kinabalu, DatuK Lau Kok Sing, representatives from the Sabah Bumiputera Chamber of Commerce and Industry, President of the Sabah Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals Association (Swepa), Doris Lim, Advisor to Swepa Datuk Nancy Ho, Advisor to the Women Small and Medium Enterprises (WSME) Association of Malaysia, Datuk Adeline Leong and representatives from the Beaufort Chinese Women Association.
The Swepa delegation was particularly interested in getting to know their Chinese counterparts' business operations.