More Chinese investors in Sabah
Sabah has much to offer to businesses in China, and since the China Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu was set up, there has been a surge in the number of Chinese investors in Sabah.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has much to offer to businesses in China, according to its Consul General in Kota Kinabalu Chen Peijie.
“Sabah is not only a great place to visit but there is also room for development and this is where the Chinese companies and investors can help. They can do something more to benefit both countries,” she said, when met after officiating at the SabahChina Symposium and Workshop 2017 organised by the China-Aid Alumni of Malaysia (CAAAM) yesterday.
She thanked CAAM for organising the workshop which she said will auger well for the China-Malaysia business community.
“I hope there will be more similar programmes which I believe will be able to help friends here to better understand China and to explore more opportunities for future exchanges and cooperation. It will be a win-win cooperation for all,” she added.
According to Chen, through the workshop, people especially the business community in Sabah will have better knowledge and understanding of how things work in China.
The workshop, she added, will enrich the people’s knowledge about China, its economy and development ideas.
She added that she is seeing more China companies investing in Sabah.
“My office was set up two years ago and during that time I have seen many Chinese investors coming to Sabah. Some of them have signed MoUs with local companies and I hope there will be more in the future.
Chen said the Chinese investors are interested in many things but she told them to look into what Sabah needs.
“I also advised the companies from China to explore the needs of Sabah and find opportunities from that information. They can help by investing in developing what Sabah needs,” she stressed.
Chen also witnessed the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between Sabah’s DKB Holdings CEO Datuk Karim Bujang and two businessmen from China.
According to Karim, one of the MoU was on bringing Muslim tourists from China to Sabah and the other on property development.
“There is this company which handles Muslim tourism from China to Malaysia and they are looking to Sabah. They have approached me and we came to the understanding that a few things have to be done to accommodate the Muslim tourists.
“For instance the Muslim travellers want halal food, they want a place where they can enjoy and at the same time be able to pray and have a place for ablutions.
“We are looking at the niche market here as there are more than 60,000 Muslims in China and if a small percentage of them travel to Sabah it will be good,” he said.
Karim, who was formerly state Assistant Tourism Minister, pointed out that Muslim travellers are always interested to see how Muslims in other countries are doing, their business and also visit the mosques there.
“The second MoU is an understanding to look into property development in Sabah. I do have friends who have land but they are looking for partners to develop. Maybe we should be looking into that kind of thing as well,” he said.
Karim also said that Sabah is a producer of many things which can be exported to China but the volume is not there and secondly maybe the locals do not know how to go about it with all the arrangements.
“Having symposiums and workshops like this will definitely help to boost up person to person contact. An alumni like CAAM should be able to assist both investors from China and Sabah. We hope to build a bridge to complement what has already been done. This is to make things better and everybody happy,” he said.
He also added that the setting up of a Consul General’s office in Kota Kinabalu is the best thing that has happened to Sabah because we now have direct access to some of the information.
Among those present at the MoU signing were CAAAM chairman Zaklean Ansari Zambri and Malaysia China Friendship Association president cum CAAAM adviser Datuk Majid Ahmad Khan.