Najib to launch digital free-trade zone tomorrow

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will launch the first Digital FreeTrade Zone on Wednesday.

Deputy minister of International Trade and Industry (Miti) Datuk Ahmad Maslan told Parliament today, the event will also see the presence of Alibaba founder, Jack Ma.

He said this when replying to a question from Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Leo Michael Toyad Abdullah (BN-Mukah)on the strategic framework being undertaken by Miti to ride the Industry 4.0 wave, as it could enhance the country's income to RM2 trillion in the next seven to eight years.

The Digital Free-Trade Zone, a brainchild of Najib, is being planned to encourage more people to join the country's ecommerce sector.

The implementation of the first Digital Free-Trade Zone in the world was unveiled in the 2017 Budget.

Internet tycoon Jack Ma was appointed Malaysia's digital economy adviser by Najib during his official to China last year, and to help spearhead the country's e-commerce development.

The Digital Free-Trade Zone will merge physical and virtual zones, with additional online and digital services to facilitate international e-commerce and invigorate Internet-based innovation.

Ahmad said Malaysia as a country that depended on trade needed to enhance its value chain to become a high quality factory base through the use of technology to effectively compete at both the regional and global levels.

“As such, the government has a number of initiatives related to Industry 4.0 including declaring 2017 as the Malaysia Internet Economy Year,' he added. — Bernama