Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal is in Kobe, Japan for a trade mission that seeks to lure Japanese investors and businessmen from 140 companies to invest in Sabah, according to a Bernama report.
Apdal began the first leg of his Japan trade mission by addressing 200 investors from different firms, explaining at length the many business potentials in Sabah due to its strategic location as a gateway for Japan traders to expand their trade to the ASEAN countries.
“We lie along-side the Lombok-Makassar Straits shipping route, which is emerging as an important route in Southeast Asia,” he was quoted in the report as saying.
He said with new port facilities at the Lahad Datu Palm Oil Industrial Cluster, the Japanese companies can take advantage of the port because it is located in the trade path of the Lombok-Makassar Straits.
During a question and answer session, Mohd Shafie assured the Japanese participants the Sabah Government would provide easy access to any Japanese company seeking to invest in Sabah by reducing red tape provided the application is following standard operating procedures.
“Sabah is a prime location for investors because it is strategically placed for the halal industry, halal cargo consolidation and redistribution activities, and has an abundance of resources such as palm oil, aquaculture, fisheries, seaweed as well other by-products from palm oil and bio-refineries both within Sabah and the broader BIMP-EAGA region.
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In addition to being a logistics hub, Mohd Shafie said Sabah is also renowned for its wealth of natural resources that offer great potential in the fields of oil and gas, halal industry, palm oil, aquaculture, fisheries, seaweed, and even furniture making, due to its timber resources.
With 1.5 million hectares of oil palm, Sabah produces six million tonnes of Crude Palm Oil and 30 million tonnes of Crude Palm Kernel Oil per annum for the biomass industry, which is popular in Japan, the report said. – © BusinessNewsAsia.com