Craft And Creative Industry Players Must Aim For World Market - PM Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysian craft and creative industry players must be bold in their thinking and utilise new technologies to make inroads in the world market, said Prime Minister Najib Razak. He said this industry held huge potential and as such the players should not remain static and concentrate on the local market only. "We have beautiful batik, amazing songket (both are Malaysian textiles), Royal yarns. I am very impressed. In fact, I myself donned a songket outfit at the ASEAN Summit. "This industry requires a quantum leap. This is because we have the culture and heritage. Thus we must not remain in the old world but break new ground," he said when closing Wanita Kreatif Fest 2016 at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here Sunday. Also present were his wife Rosmah Mansor and Wanita UMNO chief Shahrizat Abd Jalil. UMNO or the United Malays National Organisation is Malaysia's largest political party. Najib noted that women, who are key players in the industry, could help open opportunities towards taking it to a grander scale. He also urged the industry players to increase research and development efforts to develop products that are more modern and suited to current market needs. "If not, we will be stuck with a limited market and won't expand our wings to the global stage. If this is done (R&D), certainly our craft and creative industry designers will become world famous," he said. Najib said the industry can leap forward by as much as 50 per cent if the e-commerce and online platforms are also enlisted. He gave as an example China's e-commerce giant AliBaba which chalked up sales of US$13 billion in just 12 hours during its Singles Sale promotion on Nov 11 (11/11) apart from the sale and purchase concept using smartphones which makes do without the need for handbags or wallets. Wanita Kreatif Fest 2016 which opened on Friday was organised by Wanita UMNO with the cooperation of several non-governmental organisations and government agencies in conjunction with next month's UMNO general assembly. It attracted participation from women entreprenuers in various fields with more 120 exhibition and sales booths opened among others dealing in fashion and fabric, textile wholesale, careers, crafts and interior decorating. --BERNAMA