SEDIA to organise National Conference on Economic Corridors

KOTA KINABALU: To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC), the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) will be organising the National Conference on Economic Corridors: Challenges and Prospects.

The conference is co-organised by SEDIA, the Institute for Development Studies, Sabah (IDS) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), and will be held at Le Meridien hotel over two days beginning January 29, which is the date officially marking 10 years since the start of the SDC programme.

The opening of the conference and commemoration of the anniversary will include the launch of The Journey – 10 Years of SDC publication, which highlights the SDC projects, programmes and initiatives that have been implemented during the last 10 years, as well as the outcomes and performance thus far. It is expected to be officiated by Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman.

The conference will comprise of five sessions:

Session 1: The Nation Building Agenda and the Economic Corridors; Session 2: A Decade of Economic Corridors: Progress and Prospects; Session 3: Enhancing Regional and Global Competitiveness;

Session 4: Capacity Building; and Session 5: Business, Trade and Investment Prospects.

Speakers during the conference will include representatives from each of the five economic corridor authorities, IDS, UMS, the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department, the Public-Private Partnership Unit, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission.

During the Ninth Malaysia Plan, then-Prime Minister Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi unveiled the regional economic development policy and established the economic corridors, each with its own well-defined and concise vision and focus.

SDC thus began with the launch of the SDC Blueprint on January 29, 2008, which saw a launching ceremony held at Sapangar Bay Container Port and officiated by Abdullah.

The launch of the SDC Blueprint was followed by the establishment of SEDIA through the adoption of the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority Enactment 2009 on January 15, 2009.

Through the enactment, SEDIA is vested with the necessary power to serve as a decisionmaking and execution institution that is tasked to realise the SDC vision and mission, by being the one-stop authority to plan, coordinate, promote and accelerate the development of SDC. SEDIA is responsible to coordinate Federal and State government resources, expedite approvals, and oversee the Blueprint implementation.