KUCHING: Malaysia will soon sign an agreement to export fresh fruit directly to China.
China’s Consul-General in Kuching Fu Jijun said durians, pineapples, bananas and other tropical fruit would be easily available in the Chinese market, once the agreement was sealed.
He said China would require more quality products with an estimated import worth of US$10 trillion over the next five years.
“A lot of Sarawakian products such as oil and natural gas, palm oil, wood, bird’s nest, ‘tongkat ali’, pepper and fish can find consumers in China,” he said when touching on China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ yesterday.
With more than 200 million citizens aged 60 and above, Fu said entrepreneurs in Malaysia should grab opportunities to develop health products for increasingly ageing Chinese consumers.
He said the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ aimed to promote the connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas, besides establishing and strengthening partnerships among the countries.
He said China had proposed a joint project to build railways from the country to Thailand and Malaysia so that Malaysian products could be transported not just to China, but also Central Asia and Europe.
At present, Chinese companies are actively involved in the construction of a peninsula intercity light railway, according to him – adding that China is equally keen on the construction of the high-speed railway from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.
Fu said more Chinese companies were interested to seek investment opportunities and partners in Sarawak.
“Some of them have successfully found partners and started their projects. For instance, Guangken’s cooperation with Sarawak for planting and processing rubber, and also Xi’an Longji’s solar power pane and equipment production.”
According to him, real estate developers, steel mills and petroleum and natural gas companies are also contemplating on investing in Sarawak.
He said to support projects under the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, the Chinese government had set up a ‘Silk Road Fund’ valued at US$40 billion.
Apart from this, he said the Bank of China and ICBC had also spread their wings to Sarawak, with branches here and in Sibu.
He said the ‘people-to-people bond’ represented another key aspect of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, pointing out that Chinese communities outside China, especially from Sarawak had inextricable links with China.
Fu called on Chinese Sarawakians to capitalise on the advantage of having the same culture, language and clan by seizing opportunities to build on the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’.
“It is not just to create better conditions for your own business but also to contribute to Sarawak’s economic and social development, and the mutual beneficial cooperation between China and Sarawak.” he said.
“As the second largest economy in the world with an annual growth at 6.5 per cent, China is a huge market that has enough capital and technical strength to enhance cooperation with foreign countries in many fields.”