Linyi eyes Sarawak as hotspot for investments

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The Linyi delegation and Awang Tengah (fifth right) witnessing the signing of the MoU between Thai Loon and Linyi Economic and Trade Development Bureau, represented by Tay (right) and Zhuang (left) respectively.

KUCHING: Linyi city, also known as the Trade City in China’s Shandong province,  eyes Sarawak as an attractive place for investment and business ventures.

This sentiment was shared during thesigning of a memorandum of understanding between Linyi’s Economic and Trade Development Bureau with Jung Kuo Sdn Bhd – a subsidiary of local conglomerate Thai Loon Trading Company (Thai Loon) – for the joint promotion and development of its trading hub in Sarawak.

The signing took place yesterday at Wisma Sumber Alam, following a courtesy call to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah by a delegation of representatives from Thai Loon, Linyin’s Economic and Trade Development Bureau and several prominent Shandong based businesses involved in a variety of industries such as the manufacturing or trading of construction materials, machinery, apparel, and household products.

These businesses include Qingdao Changfeng Investment Co. Ltd, Shandong Huaqing Enterprise Group Corporation, Linyi Huafeng Market Development Co. Ltd, Linyi Salman International Trading Company, E-King Market Development Co. Ltd, Tianyuan Overseas Construction Co. Ltd, Linyi Trade Overseas Investment Co. Ltd, and Linyi Tiange Trading Co. Ltd.

During the courtesy call, Thai Loon managing director Tay Chiew Hua said the hub is located on an existing commercial development owned by the group in Sejinkat Industrial Park.

Named the Malaysia-China International Trade Centre (MCITC), the development began three years ago and boasts a total of 532 shop lots, a two-storey exhibition hall, 1,600 car parks, a 30 container capacity loading bay and 24 hour security facilities.

It was developed to a tune of RM250,000 and aims to be a one-stop trading hub in Sarawak with two zones where both local and foreign businesses can display samples of their wares for bulk sale to interested buyers from all over Asean.

The main motivation for this project is to leverage off the Belt and Road Initiative put forth by China.

When asked how the Linyi city government would promote the MCITC project, Zhuang Weiguo the director of Linyi’s Economic and Trade Development Bureau of Administrative Committee, said they would take a supporting role in facilitating agreements or trade between their industry players and the MCITC or our local players.

“Interested investors for the project and interested importers of Sarawak goods would first conduct feasibility tests on their respective ventures, and what we would do for them in this process, is to provide information and advice to these interested parties on how they can proceed with their ventures.

“In the end, however, agreements between our businesses and Sarawakian businesses will need to discuss solely between themselves. We can only act as a source of credible information to facilitate agreements.”

While the main objective of the project is to turn the MCITC into a larce scale Chinese product base factory outlet, Tay also guided that the project would yield economic benefits to the state such as increased tourism, growth in our logistics industry, increased job opportunities, and promotion of the digital economy from increased e-commerce activities.

Adding to this, Zhuang guided that project was ‘win-win’ as Sarawakian wares stand to benefit in terms of increased exposure and outreach to greater China, thanks to Linyi’s position as a Trade City with multiple first-class logistic hubs.

“Your agriculture, cultural and even raw material products are all things that we need. And Linyi can act as bridge for Sarawak to the rest of China in terms of trade and logistics while also acting as a platform for the promotion of other products such as tourism in greater China.

“In the future, I hope we can event set up an agency to further promote Malaysian or even Sarawakian specific wares in China,” he said.

Founded in 1969, Thai Loon was initially a company centred in the business of providing food to government organisations. It has since diversified into various other ventures such as property development, materials manufacturing, construction, civil engineering and infrastructure, hotels and real estate, furniture and supermarkets.

The group has since maintained a close business contact with the state government and the Land development Board and has more than 1,000 acres of land bank for the next 200 years of development.

When asked whether Thai Loon would be expecting more Chinese businesses to sign up for the project, Tay guided that initial responses have been extremely optimistic.

“Their intention right now is to bring some of their business here to Kuching and Sarawak to capitalise on our untapped market and our reach to the rest of Asean markets like Indonesia and Singapore.

“You can see how much interest and faith they have in us by the size of the delegation they have brought,” he added.