PM: D-8 CAN FIGHT COVID-19 TOGETHER
Member states can tackle poverty cases brought about by the pandemic, says Muhyiddin
PRIME Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday urged Developing-8 (D-8) member states to work together to address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially on the alarming rise in poverty cases.
The outbreak, he said, had left many Malaysians struggling.
He said to eradicate poverty, D8 member states must work hand-in-hand to resolve the issue.
The other member states are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
He said Malaysia’s focus under its poverty eradication strategy had been on income-generating, expansion of education and training facilities, employment generation and modernisation of rural life as well as improvement in living conditions.
“Malaysia will share its experience with D-8 member states to have a joint approach in moving forward in this post-Covid-19 global landscape.”
He said this during the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation’s 10th Summit which was held virtually.
With poverty eradiction and rebuilding the economy in mind, Muhyiddin proposed for all D-8 member states to sign up for the Reciprocal Covid-19 Vaccine Certificate Recognition.
He said doing so would help speed up the reopening of the hardest-hit sectors, such as the tourism industry.
He also said Malaysia, which hosted the second D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Tourism in 2019, welcomed the D-8 Tourism Strategy and the Crescent Moon Initiative adopted.
“We believe this initiative is imperative in facilitating member states to revive its tourism industry, which has been severely affected by the pandemic.
“The initiative, designed to promote tourism and cultural, social, and human and business inter-connectivity, is essential in complementing the Dhaka Declaration’s aspiration to promote tourism among member states.”
This year’s summit is hosted by Bangladesh with the theme “Partnership for a Transformative World: Harnessing the Power of Youth and Technology”.
Muhyiddin said the pandemic had highlighted a newfound sense of urgency to the digital inclusion agenda.
Connectivity, he said, should be at the core of all national and international priorities on healthcare, education and government services.
“While the crisis has enabled hundreds of millions to work, learn and connect digitally, it is easy to see how it has also exacerbated the situation for far too many people in vulnerable situations around the world.”
He said from Internet connectivity to Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0), the government recognised the importance of these key areas as they could accelerate the growth of the country’s digital economy.
“Malaysia is cultivating IoTbased industries like e-commerce, big data analytics, AI, blockchain and automation.
“As a long-term strategy, my government is working with our colleges and universities.
“The aim is to help these colleges and universities produce relevant and industry-ready graduates for the ICT industry, and adding more relevant topics, such as IoT and Big Data Analytics, into the syllabus.”
On technology, he said the newly-launched New Gen Entrepreneur Online Bootcamp, a technology-based training and business coaching programme for young entrepreneurs, would help many youth affected by the pandemic.
He said many youth in Malaysia had begun to dabble in the agriculture industry using the smart farming concept.
By enabling technologies such as the IoT or traceability systems, he said the food supply chain could be improved as well as increasing food safety and production transparency.
“The pandemic has also changed the conventional way of learning.”
Muhyiddin said: “My government has introduced initiatives to soften the impact, including improving the digital platform infrastructure for online learning.
“It includes greater last mile connectivity in schools in rural and remote areas through stronger fibre optic connectivity and providing 150,000 laptops, together with a free limited data package, for low-income students to ensure that their education is not disrupted.”