news without borders
09
theSun on friday | march 11, 2011
EU
boost
for Penang
ByHimanshu Bhatt
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN:
A senior European
Union (EU) representative says
Penang’s industries, which contribute
to almost one-tenth of Malaysia’s
GDP, can look forward to significant
rewards and benefits from the
impendingMalaysia-EUFree Trade
Agreement.
Describing Penang as an “economic
and intellectual powerhouse”, EU
Ambassador Vincent Piket said the
state was bound to be at the receiving
end of a good proportion of the
bilateral economic and trade activities
once the FTA is put in place.
“The FTA covers all economic
sectors, including themanufacturing
side for which Penang has a key
strength,” he said after ameeting with
Chief Minister LimGuan Eng
yesterday.
He said the agreement would
produce concrete results and benefits
both societies, not only in terms of the
industries, but also for academia,
research and in the non-governmental
sector.
Piket expressed optimismabout
the prospects for investment by
European industries to escalate in
Penang, as they bring their know-how
and expertise into the state.
Penang’s manufacturing sector
contributed to almost 50%of the
country’s total manufacturing revenue
last year.
As the second smallest state,
accounting for 6%of Malaysia’s
population, Penang also contributed
about 9%of the country’s GDP.
Limnoted that Penang’s
importance to the economywas also
due to the state’s services as well as
themanufacturing sector. The two
sectors together contribute to 97%of
the state’s GDP.
He also noted that Penang recorded
the highest investment among states
inMalaysia last year, raking in RM12.2
billion.
Malaysia is the second Asean
country, after Singapore, to open FTA
negotiations with the EU.
The negotiations tomake pacts
directlywith individual Southeast
Asian economies were approved by
the EU after discussions between the
group and Asean countries
collectively ran into complications.
The EUmember states approved
the launch of negotiations for an FTA
withMalaysia on Sept. 10, 2010. The
first round of negotiations took place
in Brussels, fromDec. 6-9, 2010. A
second roundwill take place in KL in
the week of 28 February 2011.
>State industries to reapbenefts fromfree tradedeal
by Bernard Cheah
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN:
The Penang
government is encouraging industries
and residential groups in the state to
join a voluntary shutdown at Earth
Hour 2011 onMarch 26.
Komtar assemblymanNgWei Aik
called on all sectors, including
shopping centres, hotels, and
residential areas to turn off non-
essential lights between 8.30pmand
9.30pmon that day in order to
promote environmental awareness
and to conserve electricity.
“Iconic buildings in Penang, such as
Komtar, Penang Bridge, the High
Court building, TownHall andDewan
Sri Pinang andMPSP headquarters
will join the EarthHour as well,” he
said.
“We will discuss with the police
and Rela to take securitymeasures
during that time to ensure no
untoward incidents occur,” Ng said in
a press conference in Komtar
yesterday.
The state government will be
participating together with 128
countries worldwide in the event this
year, having participated in it since
2009.
Meanwhile, state environment
committee chairman Phee Boon Poh
said the state participation in the
environmental event is the state’s
commitment to preserve the
environment for future generation.
He said the state hoped to create
awareness among the people of
climate change.
The state-level EarthHour
celebration,
organised by the
Futurise Global
Community
Foundation Penang
Chapter, will be
held at the
Esplanade at 7pm
onMarch 26.
Chief Minister
LimGuan Eng is
expected to officiate
the event, and non-
essential lights in
the area are
turned off for an
hour.
Penangites urged to joinEarthHour shutdown
GEORGE TOWN:
The Penang
government will set up an incubator
hub to boost small andmedium
enterprises (SMEs) in the state.
Chief Minister LimGuan Eng said
the state has identified a site in Bayan
Lepas with a built-up area of 1,600sq
ft for the hub to assist newSMEs in
the state.
“Some RM40million is invested
into the building by the state
government,” he said.
He said an area in Batu Kawan
Industrial Site has been chosen for a
sustainable SME village cluster in the
near future. Lim said the SMEs need
to increase their competitive edge
not only to support themultinational
corporations (MNCs) inMalaysia but
to compete internationally as global
suppliers or evenMalaysian brand
names.
“Penang can only be the Business
Processing Outsourcing Hub and
location of choice if we have a village
which adheres to international
standards,” he said.
“The state government has taken a
pro-active stand by revising the
Penang CAT (Career Assistance and
Training) Centre, whichwas set up in
2009 to assist retrenchedworkers
and the unemployed, to emphasise
training, retraining and attract new
talents,” he said.
Lim said according to the SME
Annual Report 2009/2010, there are
some 27,000 SMEs in Penang, which
make up about 5%of the
total 550,000 SMEs in the
country.
“SMEs contributed one-third
of the nation’s gross domestic
product (GDP) with the SMEs in the
services sector as the largest
contributor, followed by SMEs in
themanufacturing sector.
“The SMEs have been
contributing significantly to the
growth of manufacturing and
services in the country,” he said
after officiating a Forumon
Development and Financing for
SMEs here in RecsamBuilding
yesterday. Representatives from
300 state SMEs attended the
forum.
Incubator hub toboost SMEs