Digital economy proposed sector of focus for Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone

21 Mar 2024

The digital economy is one of the proposed sectors of focus for the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), says state executive councillor Lee Ting Han (pic).

The Johor investment, trade, consumer affairs and human resources committee chairman said the state government had a few meetings with the relevant government agencies regarding the JS-SEZ.

Lee said that the digital economy was a sector proposed because Singapore has certain advantages in the region being a regional centre of connectivity in terms of data, digital economy and cyber-related matters.

“Johor is located next to Singapore and has the natural resources, talents and necessary ingredients to support and complement whatever the city-state has at the moment,” he added.

Lee said this at the opening ceremony of the NEC Malaysia office in Iskandar Puteri here on Wednesday (March 20).

Apart from the announced measures to ease the movement of people and goods, another work in progress is to allow the free flow of data between Johor and Singapore under the JS-SEZ, said Lee.

He added that Johor has also witnessed the rapid expansion of the data centre industry in the past two years.

“At the moment, we have four data centres that are up and running while 10 more are in various stages of construction and another 14 more are in various stages of discussion with the state government and federal government,” said Lee.

“All these are the necessary digital infrastructure that will allow the digital economy sector to prosper and eventually attract the artificial intelligence and related industries to the region,” he added.

Lee also welcomed Japanese IT solutions company NEC for setting up its centre of excellence in Sunway City, Iskandar Puteri, adding that it would serve as a platform for Malaysian talent to equip themselves with skills needed to excel in the managed services and cyber defence industries.

Source: The Star