MALAYSIA`S RANKED ABOVE NZ, CHINA AND ITALY IN BUSINESS SOPHISTICATION AND INNOVATION

MIRI (Malaysia), March 12 (Bernama) -- The World Economic Forum (WEF) has
ranked Malaysia above New Zealand, China and Italy in terms of business
sophistication and innovation, Deputy Minister of International Trade and
Industry, Jacob Dungau Sagan said Friday.

He said according to the recent WEF "Global Competitiveness Report
2009-2010", Malaysia was placed 24th among 133 nations, while New Zealand was at
27th, China 29th and Italy 34th spots respectively.

Malaysia's ranking in international reports can be improved further by
instilling an innovation culture in the public service and private sector, he
said when offiating the seminar on "Creativity and Innovativeness" here.

The Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) organised the one-day seminar
which drew about 200 participants, comprising representatives from the public
and private sectors here.

"Organisations are encouraged to further improve their work systems and
procedures,so that their efficiency level, is on par with higher ranked
countries," he added.

He said the government had already placed innovation as the main agenda in
its 2010 Budget to undertake a complete transformation of public and private
sector governances, as well as the socio-economic sector in the country.

Some of the innovation processes are currently being implemented through
various approaches such as the 1Malaysia concept, the National Key Results Areas
(NKRAs), the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and the new economic model.

"The government is committed to ensure that innovation can be implemented
comprehensively at the private and public sector levels, in order to advance the
country's economy to a higher level," he added.
-- BERNAMA