LAHAD DATU: China is keen to explore business opportunities at the POIC Lahad Datu Industrial Park, said Sabah-China Chamber of Commerce (SCCC) president Datuk Frankie Liew.
This came after 20 members of the SCCC made a two-day visit to the east coast town on June 23.
The visit involved a dialogue with the Lahad Datu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and a briefing on POIC Lahad Datu's operations by its marketing and sales division head, Rose Pun.
"The visit allowed our members to understand the business opportunities so that we can share the information with our business friends in China," said Liew.
"We are keen to see how our businesses can complement POIC as we are interested in cold storage import and export of marine products, transport and warehousing."
He said SCCC also had frequent business exchanges in the Philippines and Indonesia, which, along with Malaysia, were members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that brings together Asean nations with China, South Korea and Japan.
He said a delegation from the SCCC would go on a familiarisation trip to East Kalimantan in August to learn more about development plans for Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara.
"The new capital will bring huge development potential to POIC Lahad Datu and the POIC port will play a very important role in freight and logistics in the region," said Liew.
POIC Sabah chairman Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee welcomed the visit by SCCC members and commended the initiative to get in-depth understanding of business opportunities in Sabah.
In April, POIC Sabah, the developer of a 1,796.8ha piece of land at POIC Lahad Datu, signed a collaborative agreement with the China Construction Bank. It was an indication of the inflow of China investments into Sabah.
Last week, China Construction Bank officials, led by its strategic development senior vice-president Wang Jiayang, visited POIC Lahad Datu. It coincided with a visit by top officials from Dongnam A Circulater Co Ltd, a shipping and logistics group based in Busan, South Korea.
In early June, China Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during his stopover in Kota Kinabalu, said China had tremendous interest in the downstream potential of Sabah's oil palm industry.
POIC Sabah is promoting investments in eastern Sabah, its oil palm belt, and urging foreign investors, including from China, to look at this area as an integral part of the resource-rich east Asean territories known as BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area).