Malaysia Needs To Intensify Efforts To Boost Biotechnology Sector

By Lucia Terey Anak John TAIPEI, June 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs to intensify efforts to boost the biotechnology industry at the international level as the foreign countries are not fully aware of the facilities provided by the government to attract investors. Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Director here, Nurullydia Ahmad, said the authority needed to attract countries which were active in the industry, among them, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan. "Taiwan, for example, has shown keen interest in exploring the potentials of Malaysia’s biopharmacy and biohealth sectors but were not fully aware of the facilities and incentives offered by the government and agencies. "So we need to explain Malaysia's position, in line with our rich natural resources which can be extracted and to produce bioproducts,” she told Bernama at the Bio-Taiwan 2017 here Thursday. The event is a platform for agencies and companies to exhibit their products and forge closer cooperation with biotechnology industry players. MIDA has its own exhibition space at the event to enable it to boost the government's efforts in developing Malaysia's biotechnology industry. Nurullydia said recently she invited various companies, associations and researchers from Taiwan to Malaysia to see the existing biotechnology facilities in Malaysia. "When they arrived, they were surprised that are facilities included good road and port links, easily accessible raw materials and so on. "In fact, they also know that Malaysia imposes strict rules on issuing bio-products such as biofarms," she said. She said to-date, Taiwan has 24 projects in Malaysia involving RM1.2 billion (US$1 = RM4.29) investment which included manufacturing and services that included biotechnology. -- BERNAMA​​​​​​