GEORGE TOWN: The geo-political situation in the world provides the window of opportunity for both Penang and Malaysia to solidify the economic ecosystem to become more attractive beyond the next five years.
Speaking on TV3's long-running programme Money Matters, hosted by Zahir Kelvin Ong Abdullah today, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said both Penang and Malaysia were seeing many more enquiries and investments inflow as a result of that.
"As such, Penang and Malaysia should grab this opportunity to fill in the gap in our supply chain by attracting the right kind of industry to solidify our ecosystem and supply chain so that we will become more attractive beyond the next five years.
"But these five years, there are a lot of opportunities for us to tap into because of the geo-political reasons.
"The China + 1, Asean + 1, Taiwan, and even the United States are all looking at us because they want to fully use and utilise our backend capacity and skills. They are more on the front end. So that can also help them solidify their position in this geopolitical tension," he added.
On the show, Chow also touched on a host of issues such as Penang's economic recovery post-pandemic, the state-federal relations, infrastructure development and the Penang Silicon Island project.
Chow said Penang's 54-year industrialisation path had made it the premier electrical and electronic power hub, which others turn to.
"While we leverage on our forte, moving forward, we will also develop our capabilities in other industries.
"One of which is medical tech, which we can now claim to be a medical hub in the Asia region, due to a growing cluster in Batu Kawan."
Meanwhile, Chow said the Penang Silicon Island was set to be the future of Penang.
He said the state had provided more than 700 acres of land for the development of the green tech park.
"Up to 40 per cent of land will be green space and waterways. We are investing a lot to make this a climate-resilient island.
"It will see new industries such as IoT, AI, high tech green tech and renewable energy.
"We see this as a continuation to the development of Bayan Lepas and this will be a future looking island," he added.
Chow also said that the state was looking forward to greater collaboration with the federal government to jointly develop the state in future.