Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah China Chamber of Commerce (SCCC) President Datuk Frankie Liew said Sabah can gain from Hainan’s Free Trade Port policies to enter a golden period of development.
He said the Chamber will work closely with the Hainan Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Association to promote economic, trade, cultural and tourism collaboration between Hainan and Malaysia, aiming to achieve more fruitful outcomes.
Advertisement
In order to seize new opportunities and to further strengthen economic and trade exchanges between Sabah, Malaysia and China, an 11 member team from SCCC led by Liew, visited the Hainan Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Association on March 7.
The delegation was welcomed by the Association’s President Pan Jiasen.
A formal exchange meeting was held at the conference room of the Hainan Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Association, where both sides engaged in discussions on enhancing bilateral cooperation.
Two key themes were economic and trade connectivity between Kota Kinabalu and Hainan, and the establishment of friendly tourism cooperation.
Liew said the delegation was deeply impressed by the dynamic progress of the Hainan Free Trade Port and expressed sincere appreciation for the warm hospitality extended by Pan.
He noted that Sabah possesses abundant natural resources and unique eco-tourism assets, which complement Hainan’s industrial structure and development vision.
Liew also highlighted Sabah’s strengths in tropical fruits, seafood, and halal food processing, expressing hope that the Hainan Free Trade Port policies could facilitate the entry of more Sabah specialty products into the Chinese market.
On tourism, both sides discussed the feasibility of launching direct flights between Kota Kinabalu and Hainan.
Liew noted that Sabah is a renowned tourist destination in Malaysia while Hainan is China’s international tourism consumption centre.
With highly complementary tourism resources, a direct air route would greatly facilitate people-to-people exchanges, encourage mutual tourist flows, and help build an internationally influential cross-border tourism corridor between Hainan and Malaysia.
Chen Wenpei, First-Level Researcher of the Haikou Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese expressed strong support for the proposed direct air route.
He would coordinate with relevant authorities in Haikou to facilitate cooperation between businesses from both regions.
