Phoong says the Sabah team hopes to secure more investments during the trip to China.
KOTA KINABALU: A team from Sabah led by state Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Phoong Jin Zhe will be embarking on a five-day trade mission to China to secure more investments.
The visit, which will start this Saturday (April 15), has three main objectives, namely to follow-up on investments by Chinese companies that were already ongoing in Sabah, to explore opportunities for them to expand as well as pump more money into the state.
Phoong said the team would first visit steelmaker Esteel Enterprise's headquarters which had previously announced an intention to invest RM20bil in the state's Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Sogip).
He said the itinerary would also include a visit to plants owned by solar glass maker Kibing Solar which has invested some RM2bil in Sabah.
"This is also to further understand their interest in investing potentially another additional RM3bil as their second phase of investment," he said on Wednesday (April 12).
"Furthermore, we will also be meeting up with companies and investors that have registered their interests to invest in Sabah before.
"This includes major players such as China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC), China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and others," Phoong added.
The Sabah delegation will include the ministry's permanent secretary Datuk Thomas Logijin, representatives from the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), Sipitang Oil and Gas Development Corporation (SOGDC) and POIC Lahad Datu.
According to Phoong, this visit was crucial for the state's industrial development, especially exploring investments on clean energy.
"The global market for clean and green energy is growing rapidly (so) this is why we also have representatives from Energy Commission of Sabah (Ecos) and Sabah Energy Corporation (SEC) together along the working visit.
"This is to further engage with potential investors into these industries that we will be tapping into the potential future market.
"We will also be meeting up with government officials from the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing.
"It is important for Sabah to establish a closer strategic relationship with provincial governments in China," Phoong noted.
The delegation will be visiting Xiamen and Beijing during the trip.
Phoong said the Sabah visit was a follow-up trip after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's official visit to China.
Towards this end, he expressed his appreciation to the Consul-General of the People's Republic Of China in Kota Kinabalu, Huang Shifang for providing assistance in facilitating the working trip and also setting up meetings between both governments' officials.
