NCIA, MOI and RAOT firm up rubber cities development commitment
16 Sep 2022
The Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Industry Indonesia (MOI) and the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT) to firm up the commitment to jointly develop rubber cities at the 28th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Ministerial Meeting today.
In a statement, it said the MoU aimed to strengthen international cooperation, promote the exchange of best practices and sharing of knowledge as well as technology know-how towards the development of rubber cities to achieve the IMT-GT Vision 2036.
It said the IMT-GT Rubber City Network, which consisted of Sei MangKei Rubber City in Indonesia, Kedah Rubber City in Malaysia and Songkhla Rubber City in Thailand, intended to enhance the utilisation of rubber products and bolster regional supply chains.
NCIA said the partnership would boost demand for rubber, further innovate the industry’s value chain and accelerate downstream industry development.
“This cross-border initiative will contribute towards achieving IMT-GT’s regional objectives, amongst which are, to increase intra-trade by 28 per cent of total IMT-GT trade (9.2 per cent in 2015) and boost real gross domestic product (GDP) to US$694 billion (US$215 billion in 2014) by 2036,” it said.
Chief executive Mohamad Haris Kader Sultan said NCIA, as the chair of the Project Implementation Team of IMT-GT Rubber Cities and Rubber Industry Cooperation, is committed and would work closely with stakeholders and partners to establish a sub-regional business collaboration in rubber product manufacturing to promote balanced growth in the rubber industry and optimise resources to address issues that are cross-cutting in nature.
“To this end, the Kedah Rubber City, a national strategic project and the first dedicated Rubber Industrial Park in Malaysia is well positioned within the ‘Rubber-Belt’ of Malaysia-Thailand to complement the development of a comprehensive rubber ecosystem in ASEAN.
“The industrial park development covers an area spanning 503.43 hectares and is poised to attract potential investment worth RM10 billion and create 15,000 job opportunities by 2025,” he said.
Meanwhile, NCIA said the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand reiterated their commitment to strengthen and accelerate the economic cooperation in the area of connectivity, transportation and logistics, infrastructure, energy, trade, environment, investment, tourism, halal and human resource development to achieve inclusive growth and increase the quality of life at the 13th IMT-GT Summit under Malaysia’s Chairmanship held on Oct 28, 2021.
It said the leaders emphasised their goodwill to achieve IMT-GT Vision 2036, which is aligned with the ASEAN Vision.
“Member countries are committed to advancing the production of primary agricultural products in the sub-region by means of research and development, technology transfer and capacity building.
“We hope that a stronger emphasis will be placed on promoting sustainable agricultural practices; developing and promoting prominent commodities such as rubber and palm oil; and enhancing cross-border food supply chains,” it added.
Source: Bernama
