KUALA LUMPUR: The government will ensure that local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be given priority in terms of acquiring technology and innovation despite the presence of competition from foreign firms, according to Communications and Multimedia deputy minister Eddin Syazlee Shith.
In his opening speech, which was read by the ministry’s Deputy-Secretary General (Operations) Tan Chuan Ou, Eddin said that the government will (also) plan to level the playing field so that local businesses can thrive and expand while maintaining an open economy.
“We will work to ensure that the people are given the right infrastructure, talent development and business opportunities to be successful here and abroad. We want Malaysia to be a place which attracts talent, particularly local tech professionals and we want it to be a vibrant hub for start-ups and a place where our local tech companies can become the envy of the region, if not the world,“ he added.
He also noted that the challenge for policymakers among others, was to create an enabling environment to allow the SMEs to digitalize and to engage the relevant industries to adopt a sustainable development that will further strengthen the country’s economic future.
“This includes enabling the society to embrace the positive changes that the technology will bring. The nature of work in itself is changing constantly. So we must keep up or be left behind.”
The SMEs represents the backbone of the Malaysian economy and; the industry contributes 37% and 17% of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and export market respectively.
