Sarawak working towards exporting more food to Singapore
KUCHING: Sarawak is collaborating with Singapore to increase volume of food export to the island state.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the collaboration is not just in terms of getting more Sarawak food produce complying with the standards and quality requirement of Singapore but also application of Singapore’s bio technology in Sarawak.
“In the past, Sarawak exported mostly commodity products rubber, timber and so on to Singapore. Now we want to expand to food products which has a lot of potentials.
“We are already exporting some food products to Singapore, and we hope the volume will increase soon,” he told reporters after meeting a delegation from Singapore led by its Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education Chee Hong Tat yesterday.
Uggah, who is also Minister of Agriculture Modernisation, Native Land and Regional Development, said yesterday’s meeting was fruitful as both sides followed up on what was discussed earlier when they met at the opening of Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Singapore (Statos) in Singapore last week.
Uggah added Singapore is already applying Industry 4.0 in its technology and he hoped there will be transfer of such technology in the field of agriculture to Sarawak through this collaboration.
“Singapore is known for bio technology and hi tech. We hope to get that technology to come here.
“Singapore is an important gateway for Sarawak products. That’s why Statos was set up for this purpose,” he said.
He also mentioned that as Sarawak aims to achieve its target of net exporter of food products by 2030, the government needs to work closely with the private sector through anchor companies.
“So far, three anchor companies have been working with us mainly in the export of durian products to China market. We are hoping to have more anchor companies,” he said.