Frankie Liew (fourth right) and SCCC members at the 2024 China Industrial Transfer Development Docking Event (Guangxi).
KOTA KINABALU (June 20): Sabah China Chamber of Commerce (SCCC) will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Guangxi, China, the Greater Bay Area, and ASEAN in Malaysia, aiming to establish a cross-regional trade cooperation mechanism and an open docking mechanism platform.
This will create channels and bridges for cooperation between multilateral industrial parks, complementing resources, interacting talents, and exchanging technologies to promote regional economic growth.
Datuk Frankie Liew, President of the SCCC, stated that Guangxi could serve as the hinterland for the Greater Bay Area, while Sabah is a hub for ASEAN. A combination of their strengths can promote trade cooperation and industrial transfer activities between the two regions.
Liew made these remarks to the media after attending the 2024 China Industrial Transfer Development Docking Event (Guangxi) held in Nanning from June 15 to 17, on the invitation of the Chinese authorities.
“We hope to maintain close cooperation with Nanning, Guangxi in the future, establishing a mechanism for information and business opportunities aggregation and dissemination, preparing for future investments and cooperation,” he said.
He believes that if business associations in China, ASEAN, and Sabah form a strong network and support each other, they can effectively eliminate misunderstandings and prejudices between countries, breaking down barriers and enhancing government-to-government and people-to-people relationships and cooperation.
The 2024 China Industrial Transfer Development Docking Event (Guangxi) was jointly organized by the Guangxi Industrial and Information Technology Department and the Autonomous Region People’s Government. The event saw the signing of 360 projects with a total contract amount of RMB 374.1 billion.
Liew attended the opening ceremony and participated in various thematic docking activities to understand the latest industrial information and exchange with business representatives from different regions.
During the visit, he also interacted with Qin Yuanzhen, Deputy Director of the Guangxi Autonomous Region Industrial Park Reform and Development Office, and Huang Rulong, Deputy District Head of the Qinnan District People’s Government of Qinzhou City.
Liew was accompanied by Xie Yiheng, a member of the Sabah Chinese Youth Entrepreneurs Association.
Nearly 500 representatives from the China International Economic and Technical Cooperation Promotion Association, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, and entrepreneurs from across the country gathered at the docking event.
They focused on fields such as new energy materials, high-end alloy materials, rare earth materials, inorganic non-metallic materials, new chemical materials, hydrogen storage materials, and functional materials, aiming to strengthen the industrial chain of new materials through practical cooperation.
Cities including Fangchenggang, Beihai, Wuzhou, Qinzhou, Baise, Hezhou, Laibin, Nanning, Yulin and Chongzuo each presented their new local industrial materials, key investment areas and investment environment.
At the opening ceremony, Jin Zhuanglong, Minister of Industry, and Information Technology of China, stated that support would be given to Guangxi to build an important strategic hinterland of the Greater Bay Area, expand high-level launching, attract and utilize foreign investment more actively, and integrate into the global industrial, supply and value chains.
Guangxi has significant location, resource and ecological advantages, being adjacent to the southwest of China, close to Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, and accessible to Southeast Asia.
The docking event focused on implementing the major missions assigned to Guangxi by the Chinese government, utilizing national policies, building border and port industrial parks, guiding industrial agglomeration within the parks, and constructing cross-regional and cross-border industrial chains to accelerate the formation of Guangxi as an important strategic hinterland of the Greater Bay Area.
With the theme “Creating a Convenient Market Environment, Co-creating a New Future for Industrial Cooperation,” the event hosted a “1+4+N” series of activities. This included a comprehensive event with key guest meetings, a reception dinner, and the opening ceremony; four industry-specific docking activities focusing on advanced equipment manufacturing, new materials, electronic information, and light industry and textiles; and a series of investment inspection activities, investment inspections and business negotiations in various locations.
Currently, the organizers are focusing on precise investment promotion, with over 100 projects already reaching signing intentions. It is expected that the quality, scale and investment amount of the signed projects will surpass those of the previous year.