Disclaimer: Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak,UiTM
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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah government aims to boost state economic growth by going beyond the domestic market, said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam.
"It is in these international markets that you could aggressively grow your own business and that positive growth will quantum leap Sabah's economy.
"Therefore, I call on Sabah Entrepreneurs Creation (SEC) to do more. Transform these entrepreneurs to become export-oriented entrepreneurs," he said in a statement after officiating the 2022 edition of SEC Grand Final Pitching Competition here last night.
Joachim, who is also state Industrial Development Minister, added that Sabah's total trade had increased by 9.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to a record high of RM87.2 billion.
Based on the Sabah External Trade Statistics Report for 2021, he said the statistic spoke volumes about Sabah's trade investment.
Disclaimer: Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak,UiTM
This material may be protected under Malaysia Copyright Act which governs the making of photocopies, reproductions or copyrighted materials. You may use the digitized materials for study or research.
He added that marketing local products would be one of the sustainable ways of exporting goods apart from ensuring food security.
"There are many local materials that can be processed into food products such as bananas, tapiocas and sweet potatoes which all of these can be processed and produced in the market locally.
"As we enter into the third year of the pandemic, the world is being challenged with struggling cash flow, logistics, manpower and rising cost of living.
"These challenges have presented ample opportunities for entrepreneurs or companies in Sabah to continuously and constantly work towards reducing the cost of producing their products so that their products can be made available to the market at an affordable and competitive price," he said.
As for other assistance to entrepreneurs in Sabah, he said the ministry had been providing courses on topics such as packaging, labelling and licensing to make their products marketable.
"The ministry also helps in marketing Sabah products through business linkages with retail companies such as Petronas' Kedai Mesra, Bataras Supermarket, Segi Fresh Supermarket, GM Klang and Fasarina Express Mart Labuan.
"Recently, the Ministry also launched its fourth IKS Mart in Papar, with a few more locations planned such as Kota Marudu, Tuaran, Tawau and Keningau. The goal of these IKS Marts is to help promote locally produced products by small and medium- sized industries.
"Apart from that, the marts also act as a collection centre for Sabah products in that particular region."
