‘NKEA labs can help Malaysia become a leading nation’

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today said that by and large all the recommendations of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) laboratories will be accepted by the government.
The Prime Minister, however, said that in this context there would be some fine tuning as well.

Najib, who spent nine minutes each at the 12 NKEA laboratories in Kelana Jaya today to find out the latest development, said that he was very impressed and encouraged with not only the outcome of the labs but also the enthusiasm and deep commitment shown by all the participants, both from the public and private sectors.


"From what I can see...I think by and large all your recommendations will be accepted by the government. From my immediate reaction it is really a job well done...an excellent job," he said in his speech to the participants after his visit to the laboratories at the Malaysia Airlines Academy.

The 12 NKEA were oil, gas and energy; palm oil; financial services (including capital markets); wholesale, retail and distribution; tourism; telecommunications; education; electrical and electronics; business services; health services; agriculture; and Greater Kuala Lumpur Urban Revitalization.

The NKEA labs are currently robustly analyzing the big ideas and challenging multi-year nation-building projects to be undertaken by the country.


These economic activities would essentially become the NKEAs which make quantifiable contributions to economic growth.

The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) of the Prime Minister's Department is running NKEA laboratories for 10 weeks starting from June to August.

The laboratories would identify and study plans and initiatives for each NKEA to meet the targets set.

Najib said that by August, the recommendations of the labs would be open to the public for feedback.

"And then we will set up the proper implementation mechanism to ensure all your recommendations will be (implemented)," he said.

Najib said the scale of collaboration between the public and private sectors cooperating through the NKEA was unprecedented .

"This is a very historic and wonderful window of opportunity for us to work together as one nation, as 1Malaysia to make what I call a gargantuan leap from where we are today to in 10 years' time, we want to be fully developed and a high-income nation," he said.

The Prime minister said that through this massive transformation of the country, Malaysia would become a leading nation in the world.

"It doesn't matter that Malaysia doesn't qualify to the World Cup. I just want Malaysia to qualify as a developed and high-income nation by 2020. And judging from what I noticed, I think that is more achievable," he said. - Bernama