It Agenda In Sabah Development Corridor

It Agenda In Sabah Development Corridor - JamaludinAugust 13, 2007 20:39 PM

SEPANGGAR, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wants the Sabah Development Corridor to have an information technology (IT) and multimedia agenda, Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis said today.

He said he had discussed with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman about the Prime Ministry's wish, and his ministry together with Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDeC) and Mimos Berhad were ready to assist the state government.

"A committee under the supervision of State Resource Development and IT Minister Datuk Yee Moh Chai has been set up between MDeC and the IT Unit of the Chief Minister's Department to draw up a plan to promote an IT industry in Sabah including bringing IT outsourcing like having call centres to the state," he told reporters after launching Sirim Berhad here.

Having a call centre industry in Sabah would give a competitive edge to the state which received tourists and IT experts from countries like Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and China, he said.

He said he would prepare a working paper on incentives to be given to Cyberjaya IT firms that were interested to shift to Sabah.

Jamaludin said his ministry also planned to set up a biotech centre of excellence in the effort to commercialise marine-based products in Sabah.

"I will discuss with Universiti Malaysia Sabah to cooperate in the matter because Sabah is rich in sea resources such as seaweed and they can be commercialised internationally," he said.

"As the resources are plentiful in Sabah, we want the experts from Sabah and the operators also from Sabah, and this will give a shift in terms of technological advancement and economic development to Sabah," he said.

Earlier, he asked Sirim to hold dialogues with local industries on how it could assist them enhance productivity and add value to their products using technology.

"We want Sirim to have a second agenda besides that relating to standards, namely assisting the industries in adding value to their products not only for the local market but also the world," he said.-- BERNAMA


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