The Malaysian government will embark on several initiatives to build the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) into a more attractive and competitive investment destination, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Thursday.

The MSC Bill of Guarantees will soon be updated and the government will re-examine the package of incentives to create a better investor-friendly environment, Badawi was quoted as saying by local media.

"Furthermore, we are strengthening the funding landscape by ensuring adequate and affordable funding at all levels and for all types of firms, although particular emphasis will be given to pre- seed funding and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) respectively," Badawi said at the opening ceremony of the MSC International Advisory Panel Meeting in the state of Penang.

In line with the efforts to strengthen MSC's position as the center for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the Malaysian government will continue to develop key ICT growth areas, Badawi said.

Meanwhile, the prime minister encouraged those business leaders and ICT talents attending the meeting to tap the potential in biotechnology-related fields, noting that the combination of ICT and biotechnology can help create a competitive biotechnology industry.

The sales of MSC companies exceeded 1.6 billion US dollars in the year 2004, underlining the rapid growth of the ICT industry in Malaysia, Badawi said.

Malaysia's ICT sector grew by 8.3 percent last year, higher than the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.1 percent in 2004, Badawi added.

MSC, conceptualized in the year 1996, has now grown into Malaysia's ICT hub. The corridor, 15 km wide and 50 km long, stretches from Kuala Lumpur City Center in the north and to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in the south, encompassing Cyberjaya, the technology core, and Putrajaya, the administrative center.

Source: Xinhua