Johor targets halal food industry (Januray 2019)

ISKANDAR PUTERI: The state government plans to conduct a working visit to seven countries to achieve its targeted RM8bil worth of investments in Johor this year.

The seven countries are United Arab Emirates, China, Australia, the United States of America, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Johor International Trade, Investment and Utilities Committee chairman Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said he will lead the delegation, with the first trip to Dubai.

“I will visit Dubai to attend the world’s largest food festival as we are interested in the food processing field as we want to make Johor a halal hub in the region.

“We plan to use such a platform to penetrate the Chinese and Japanese markets as we see a high demand for the halal food industry there,” he said.

Puah said this after witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Big Wheel and URCE Alibaba Malaysia Channel Partner to deliver their first e-commerce course in the southern region here. Puah said the trip to the US would include visits to the Silicon Valley as they were focusing on getting high technology data to create a similar region in the state.

Puah said despite the global economic challenges, Johor was still on the right track to attract high investments.

On an unrelated matter, he said a company from France will visit the state to conduct a feasibility study to develop commercial planes maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations there.

“It is one of the companies that supplies parts to the world’s leading aerospace corporation.

“They will conduct a study first before making any decisions on cooperating with local companies,” he said.

(Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2019/01/11/johor-targets-halal-food-industry/)