The first industrial park jointly developed by Malaysia and China has helped entrepreneurs capitalize on the Southeast Asian country’s highly-educated workforce and provided quality jobs for Malaysians, according to business community leaders.
Partnership between twin industrial parks in Malaysia and China has greatly boosted economic integration between the two countries over the past decade. Known as the “Two Countries, Twin Parks” program, the parks constitute a flagship project of cooperation under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
Founded in February 2013, the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP), together with its sister park, the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park situated in China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has set an innovative example of bilateral economic cooperation under the program’s model.
Among the Chinese companies in the MCKIP, Camel Power is the park’s newest tenant. It produces about 15,000 car-starter batteries per day, with a mostly local workforce, providing vast high-quality job opportunities to the country’s fast-developing east coast region.
“We select the employee that’s highly educated, for example, from the diploma holder and some bachelor, some higher like a master or even doctorate degree. So, that’s easier for our transfer of the knowhow to local manpower,” said Jerry Xue Shihua, Camel Power Malaysia.