Ingenieur Vol 58 April-June 2014 Ingenieur Vol 58 April-June 2014 | Page 57

‟ The new Government policy of liberalization of the service industry will pose several challenges to the local professionals who may see it as threat or opportunities. I hope local professionals such as the engineers will prepare themselves by raising their level of skill and professionalism. This is a joint council to monitor the works of the two national status industrial parks jointly launched by YAB Prime Minister Malaysia and Premier of PR China in 2011. The China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park (QIP) occupies 55 sq km in Qinzhou City, Guangxi province that is jointly developed by Chinese and Malaysian companies. For the first phase, it will house the Industrial zone, Sci-Tech R&D Zone ad Service Residential Area. The whole park will eventually home to 500,000 people. As the state status project, investors here will be accorded special incentives by the central and provincial Government of PR China. To date, construction works have started on phase one where the administrative office and major roads have been completed. As for the MalaysiaChina Kuantan Industrial Park, planning is at advance stage. Similarly, Malaysian Government will provide special incentives for investors for this Industrial Park. For this mission, I had the honour of meeting my counterpart, Vice Minister of MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce) China, Madam Guo Yan. We had a detailed discussion and free exchange of views in enhancing trade and industries between China and Malaysia. Talking about trade with China, both nations have signed a “Five Year Programme for Economic and Trade Cooperation” between Malaysia and China on October 4, 2013 between the Minister of MITI, Malaysia and Minister of MOFCOM, China that was witnessed by YAB Prime Minister Malaysia and HE President of PR China. The programme outlines areas of co-operation and strategic plans in trade and industry. One of the programmes is on engineering services. I believe there are many areas that both nations can share for better synergy in various fields such as energy-efficiency sector. Can YB tell us some of your challenges and experience in holding such an important post as Deputy Minister of MITI? MITI is always on the local economic radar screen as International trade and Industry can be considered the lifeline of the nation. There are many issues dealing with international players for which Malaysian interest has to be guarded. The proposed TransPacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) still has many issues that have not been resolved, taking cognizance of Malaysian interest. We have to engage local stakeholders in the whole process to ensure that their interests too are well addressed. For the foreign direct investment (FDI), we are in the trans