KOTA KINABALU: China remains as Sabah’s significant trade partner as its trade  volume registered an increase of 1.2 per cent to RM6.56 billion for the first six months  this year. 

“As the economic and trade cooperation between Malaysia and China continue to  progress, I look forward to more China trade and investments into Sabah,” said Chief  Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor at the People’s Republic of China‘s 74th National Day Celebration held at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa here  tonight. 

“China is now Malaysia’s largest trading partner, and Malaysia ranks near the top of  China’s trading partners in Southeast Asia.  

Deputy Chief Minister II and Minister of Local Government and Housing, Datuk Seri  Panglima Dr Joachim Gunsalam read the Chief Minister’s speech. 

Hajiji said there is much to be done to strengthen and align Sabah’s development  strategies with China, combining the realisation of Chinese modernisation with Malaysia  Madani and Hala Tuju Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) aspirations.  

On tourism, Hajiji said arrivals from China were also growing steadily since the full re opening of China’s border in March this year.  

“For the first six months this year, Chinese visitors were recorded at 17,040 (an increase  of 680.6 per cent) compared to only 2,188 in the corresponding period last year.  

“Sabah is connected to seven major cities in China with 54 weekly flights and seat  capacity of 9,861. We hope to see more air connectivity to increase visitor arrivals from  China to Sabah. 

“We are pleased that Sabah has remained a sought-after destination for Chinese  visitors, either for leisure or business. The upward trend in overall visitor arrivals to  Sabah, totalling 1,198,536 arrivals from January to June of this year, is a good sign as  this has generated an RM2.45 billion tourism receipt for Sabah. This represented a 69.1  per cent increase compared to the corresponding period last year,” he said.

Hajiji said moving forward, Sabah looked forward to more cooperation with China in  areas such as green energy, manufacturing, high technology agriculture, and smart city  construction, among others, to promote mutual benefit and win-win private-public  partnerships.  

Ends