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Sabah businessmen attending the talk by Fitzhardinge of the South West Group
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5th May, 2010
KOTA KINABALU: Good synergies exist between Sabah and the South West Corridor of Western Australia. The two entities share common interests in oil and gas, defence, education, tourism, engineering services and the maritime industry sectors, observed Chris Fitzhardinge, director of South West Group.
Speaking at a presentation on ‘Business Capabilities and Opportunities of the South Metropolitan Region of Western Australia’ here, he invited Sabah to participate in its major resource projects which are in mineral extractions and oil and gas production, with a projected total value of nearly RM450 billion.
One Malaysian-owned company, the Wah Seong Group, had won a contract to supply pipe coating worth RM270 million for the oil and gas sector in Western Australia.
Another important development is the Australian Marine Complex, 20 km south of Perth. It provides access to large-scale industrial infrastructure on a project-by-project basis for major fabrication and assembly, load out operations, docking, shipbuilding and maintenance.
Fitzhardinge described Sabah’s tourism industry as very much impressive and Western Australia has much to learn from Sabah.
He said good investment opportunities for four-star hotels in Fremantle, Port Cooges, Rockingham and aged accommodation for its growing population.
“Over the last 12 months, merchandise trade between Malaysia and Western Australia was worth RM7.21 billion, with exports from Malaysia valued at RM5.14 billion and imports from Western Australia worth RM2.07 billion,” he said.
Despite the last global economic meltdown, he said trade between the two countries had not slowed down but remained strong and steady.
“Malaysia is the third largest tourist market for Western Australia as a result of expanding airline capacity,” he said.
On tertiary education, he said Malaysian students formed the second largest group in Western Australia after China. Murdoch and Notre Dame are its leading universities.
He also highlighted Sterling Biofuels, a Perth-based company which is involved in the construction and operation of a 100,000 tonnes per annum biodiesel manufacturing plant in Lahad Datu, Sabah.
The South West Group is responsible for hosting Sabah Trade Website which attracts an average 3,500 hits a month in Western Australia.
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