PUTRAJAYA (June 12): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called on investors to participate in the proposed Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), a move that will further enhance trade and investment linkages between the two neighbouring countries.
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said that while JS-SEZ was a collaboration between the state of Johor and Singapore, the idea for such a project originated from the federal government, which has strongly endorsed it.
To this end, he encouraged investors to take part in the JS-SEZ project and take advantage of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link to be completed in 2026.
The RTS Link is a four-kilometre light rail transit shuttle service connecting Bukit Chagar station in Johor Bahru and the Woodlands North station in Singapore.
“We’re just waiting to finalise this and I would even drop into Singapore to meet the potential investors to encourage them. But we have to get the parameters and issues resolved.
“And from the initial briefing by (Economy) Minister Rafizi (Ramli) and (Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry) (Datuk Seri) Tengku Zafrul it seems that we're very close to a final agreement,” he said in a joint press conference with his counterpart Lawrence Wong.
The establishment of JS-SEZ is expected to further boost trade between Johor and Singapore, akin to the Chinese city of Shenzhen, a success story of a special economic zone.
The JS-SEZ was mooted by Rafizi after a meeting with the Johor state government at Iskandar Puteri in May last year and both countries agreed to take a step further by setting up a special task force to study the establishment of the special economic zone two months after that.
On Jan 11 this year, Malaysia and Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the JS-SEZ.
This is Wong’s first overseas trip since being sworn in as Singapore’s fourth prime minister on May 15.
His two-day working visit to Malaysia which ended on Wednesday at the invitation of Anwar aimed to discuss efforts in strengthening ties and bilateral cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore as well as to exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual concern.
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