From right: Madius, Shafie and Safar during one of the business matching sessions.
TOKYO: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau said Sabah is a strategic geographic location to invest and one of the best places in Asia to live in.
The complete 2016 Retire Overseas Annual Index, he said, ranked Kota Kinabalu and thus Sabah as one of the top ten locations; the only place in Asia to make it to the list.
“We are known worldwide as a leading destination for eco-tourism with good air-connectivity with many parts of the world,” added the Minister of Trade and Industry.
“Sabah is a conducive location to undertake your business; it is also a place that offers fun activities to unwind from a hard day at the office. You can say that we offer the best of both worlds,” he said at the Sabah Investment Seminar in Okura Hotel here yesterday.
He said the ministry had identified and developed a number of industrial parks for investors, namely the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP), the Sandakan Furniture Hub and the POIC Lahad Datu.
“We have developed these industrial parks with the requisite infrastructure and facilities to jump start businesses,” said Madius, adding “we are always open to new and interesting business proposal that may need a different location outside of these specified industrial areas.”
He said apart from having raw materials such as palm oil, timber, crude oil and gas and may more, Sabah has the potential to become the gateway to ASEAN as well as a regional distribution hub for the broader Asia-Pacific region.
Madius is part of Sabah delegation on a trade and investment mission led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie Haji Apdal from 28 Nov to 6 Dec in Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan.
Shafie and Madius witnessed the signing of several memorandums of understanding as well as directly involved in bilateral meetings during the trip. They were accompanied by State Secretary Datuk Safar Untong and Trade and Industry Ministry permanent secretary Datuk Madiyem Layapan