KL pledges to tackle investor issues on IDR

The Straits Times, July 23, 2007


RAWANG (SELANGOR) - MALAYSIA will address the issues raised by parties interested in investing in the Iskandar Development Region (IDR), including Singapore, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar has said.

'We welcome anyone who wants to invest in the IDR,' he said.

Datuk Seri Syed Hamid was asked to respond to remarks by Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo that 'some practical problems' would be brought up during the first two-day joint ministerial committee meeting on the IDR, which begins today.

With the present spirit of cooperation and goodwill between the two countries, they should be able to do something to promote easier flow between them, he told Channel News Asia.

The IDR is a 2,217-sq-km area in southern Johor that Malaysia has targeted as its next growth area by attracting foreign investors, including those from Singapore.

Said Mr Yeo: 'If there are no borders, then water will find its own level and a lot of the economic growth in Singapore will spill over into the IDR, which will lower our own costs.

'It will be good for Johor. It will be good for Singapore. Both sides will benefit. The pie will grow faster and there will be plenty to be shared.

'But of course, there is a border, there is a fence. So the water doesn't flow completely and there is a certain pressure difference, but to the extent that there is connectivity and ferocity, that is good for both sides.'

The joint ministerial committee was formed following an agreement between Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during their leaders retreat in Langkawi in May.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan and Transport Minister Raymond Lim will lead the Singapore delegation.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK