Invest Sabah to be fully operational by May
Published on: Tuesday, January 14, 2020
By: Larry Ralon
TUARAN: Invest Sabah, a newly formed agency dedicated to investment under the State Trade and Industry Ministry, will be fully operational this year.
Deputy Chief Minister cum Trade and Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, who announced this, said the State trade and investment missions outside the country will be more organised with Invest Sabah, which will begin its full operations the latest by May.
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“The State Cabinet has approved the setting up of this agency, as had been announced, so we are presently arranging and recruiting the needed officers to be placed at the agency.
“I am confident that with Invest Sabah, we will be able to boost our effort to attract more investors into Sabah,” he told reporters when met at his Christmas 2019 Open House held at Tenghilan multipurpose hall, Sunday.
Tangau, who is also Tuaran Member of Parliament, said Invest Sabah is needed in view of the increasingly stiff competition from surrounding neighbouring countries as well as other states in the country.
“Each of us (competing nations and states) have our very own strength, like Sarawak has its own strength and so do our State. But now we added this agency Invest Sabah, which is dedicated to investment, to boost our strength as well as the trade and investment efforts,” he said.
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Tangau said his Ministry will also transform the Industrial Development and Research Department (DIDR) this year to become Entrepreneurship Development Department.
“Industrial and investment matters will be handled by Invest Sabah, so the Entrepreneurship Development Department will be dedicated to helping our entrepreneurs, to boost their competitiveness.
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“We have trained many (entrepreneurs) all this while but not many of them graduated to become industrialists. So we want to up our effort with this new approach, we want the new department to hold intensive collaboration with other relevant parties and agencies including the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and all other ministries.
Apart from that, Tangau who is also Upko President, said beginning this year the Ministry will also boost the creativity and innovative level of people in Sabah with the setting up of the Innovation, Creative Economy and Education Centre which for a start will be placed under the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP).
“This Innovation, Creative Economy and Education Centre eventually will become an independent agency. We have chosen the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who will start moving in the next one or two months.
“We hope there will not just innovators but also entrepreneurs who will take the innovation being created at this centre to another levels,” he said, adding that he also want to see greater collaboration between his Ministry and the other ministries.
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