By Jite Eriabie
Five new ports in Malaysia and China are set to join the China-Malaysia Port Alliance (CMPA).
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the Kemaman Port Authority, the Kuching Port Authority and the Sabah Ports Authority would be joining the alliance from the Malaysian side.
On the China side, Tianjin Port and Qingdao Port would be added, bringing the total number of ports in the alliance to 21.
“We will have a more comprehensive collaboration with ports from the peninsula, Sabah, Sarawak and China now,” said Liow after officiating the CMPA’s second annual meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here Monday morning.
In his opening speech, Liow said China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner since 2009, with trade between both countries amounting to RM240.91bil in 2016.
He added that the aim was to make Malaysia the logistics hub for the Asean region and to strengthen the ports’ infrastructure to increase its cargo-handling capacity.
“The number of tourists from China is also increasing. We are targeting three million tourists this year, and possibly revise it to four million,” said Liow.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.