KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday announced that the Chinese government has given approval to 11 Malaysian companies to resume the export of swiftlet nests to that country, subject to several conditions.
The Prime Minister said the decision would enable the country’s swiftlet nest industry to be revived after exports of the product to China had been delayed for more than two years.
Najib said he would ask the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry and the Health Ministry to take follow-up action on the matter immediately.
“The bird’s nest issue is important as it involves many people and had been delayed for too long. Exports were delayed for two years, that’s why the price of bird’s nest plumetted. Following the decision, the bird’s nest industry can be revived soon.
“(Special envoy to China) Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting had taken various initiatives with the Chinese government to the extent that they have given special approval to Malaysia,” Najib told reporters after receiving a call from a delegation from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region at his office at Parliament House, here yesterday.
The seven-member delegation was led by the newly-appointed Guangxi Governor, Chen Wu. Ong was also present.
Last month, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that China had withdrawn the ban on the exports of Malaysia’s bird’s nest to that country, with nine companies being given conditional approval while two were given approval after rectification.
The issue on the ban on swiftlet’s nest exports from Malaysia to China cropped up in July 2011 after several media in that country disputed the quality of the product imported from this country.
Najib said the Chinese government had also decided that the Qinzhou Industrial Park in China would become the hub for the processing and determination in terms of laboratory tests for the entry of swiftlet’s nest into that country.
“This is a special approval given by the Chinese government to Malaysia,” he said.
Commenting on the meeting, Najib said several matters had been discussed including the development of the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP) being carried out by all the parties concerned.
He said that a plot of land near the Kuantan Port had been identified while the participation of a major Chinese company as a business partner in handling the Kuantan Port was being negotiated, particularly the cost that would determine the participation of the company.
“The negotiation should be held in the next few days. An additional plot of land near the Kuantan Port is also being allocated,” he said.
On the Qinzhou Industrial Park in China, Najib said the Chinese government had given all approvals for the project and it was expected to be implemented as a very important project in the context of bilateral relations between Malaysia and China.
Among other things, the meeting was also to speed up the development of the project in Kuantan which had been signed last February between the Prime Minister and the Chinese leader as well as to strengthen bilateral trade between the two countries. — Bernama