THANK YOU: Awang Tengah (left) receiving a souvenir from Obet.
JOHOR BAHRU: Closer economic ties and cooperation with Johor could open the gateway for Sarawakian bumiputera entrepreneurs to tap into a potential market of 28 million customers from Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.
Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said this when declaring open ‘Program Showcase Usahawan Bumiputera Negeri Sarawak 2012’ here yesterday.
“I am confident that the launch of this programme in Johor is timely because Johor is not just a market centre for Sarawak bumiputera products and services, but also a gateway to bigger market centres, that is the whole of Peninsular Malaysia with 22.6 million people and also our neighbour Singapore, with 5.3 million people,”he said.
”This means that we have access to a big market, almost 28 million. This market also commands a high purchasing power because many of these residents are of middle and high incomes.”
Awang Tengah, who is also the Minister of Public Utilities and Minister of Resource Planning and Environment, said this programme would provide huge opportunities to entrepreneurs from both states to foster close cooperation in business, not just to tap into local markets in Sarawak and Johor but more importantly to expand their business through mutual effort and intelligence sharing to exploit the wider global market.
The minister also said cooperation between Sarawak and Johor should not be confined to business, and that the state welcomes cooperation in other fields including economics, social and tourism, which would benefit the people in both states.
“This is very important because of the diversity and uniqueness of products and services that both these states offer. These can be combined and repackaged to be marketed as a unique national product at an international level. This approach will be more effective to break into the competitive global market,”he said.
Also present was Assistant Minister of Bumiputra Entrepreneur Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, Johor State secretary Datuk Obet Tawil, Jemoreng assemblyman Abu Seman Jahwie, Batu Danau assemblyman Paulus Palu Gumbang, and director of Bumiputra Entrepreneur Development Unit Kameri Affandi.