State Govt aims 600,000 new jobs
Published on: Thursday, July 12, 2018
Tuaran: The State Government through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry aims to create 600,000 job opportunities for locals by the year 2023. Among initiatives taken to achieve this target is the launching of the One District One Small Industry (OD1SI) held at Tamparuli Town, here, Wednesday, by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (pic). The OD1SI's debut was also held simultaneously with the launching of the Festival Industry Kecil Sabah (FIKS), the first of three steps towards the OD1SI initiative. ADVERTISEMENT "The second step is the formulation and implementation of the District Flagship Product in the medium term, product clusters of every district will be developed in line with the resources available in the area," said Shafie in his speech delivered by Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Commerce and Industry Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau. The third step of the OD1SI is to set up an OD1SI Coordination Committee chaired by Tangau with members comprising those from related ministries, departments and agencies. The OD1SI Unit will be set up under the Ministry's Research and Industry Development Department. Shafie further expressed confidence that the OD1SI can be implemented and expanded to every district across Sabah. ADVERTISEMENT Earlier, he noted that Sabah's Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) only contribute 6.2 percent to the SMIs across Malaysia. "There is still a huge room for improvement in the field," he said.
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He said the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan-Upko State Government emphasised on the wellbeing and improvement of the people's standard of living. "I do not want anyone to be left out and I want to make sure every Sabahan will enjoy the benefits of development under the new Sabah Government administration," he said. The SMIs, especially the Small Industries, are the heart and pulse of the economic ecosystem mainly because it encompasses about 99 percent of the businesses in Sabah.Whereas SMIs' macro contribute approximately 36.3percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).It also provides approximately 65percent of the overall job employment in Malaysia. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Meanwhile, Tangau said the purpose of the OD1SI is to promote local products and boost local confidence on local products. "We want Sabahans to believe in the products produced by Sabahan entrepreneurs, we want to instil a culture of looking up to our own local made products instead of glorifying products from abroad," he said.