Mahathir: Malaysia has potential in aircraft manufacturing
November 14, 2013 Leave a comment
Updated: Thursday November 14, 2013 MYT 7:33:06 AM
Mahathir: Malaysia has potential in aircraft manufacturing
By LOSHANA K SHAGAR
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has the potential to expand into the aircraft manufacturing industry by producing the parts and components at a low cost, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. “Now that we have a national automotive industry, we can expand into aircraft; not by making our own but by producing parts, which we can do at a cheaper rate than Europe,” he said at the 4th Kuala Lumpur International Automotive Conference here yesterday.He was responding to a question from the floor on the next step for Malaysia towards being a developed nation.
He said information technology and electronics were important sectors that required engineering capability, one of the key factors for an industrialised nation.
Dr Mahathir also said the trade deficit in the automotive sector could be reduced through increasing export of national cars and limiting import of foreign cars.
“We are not generating enough wealth, even with income from our raw material exports, to pay for the items we import,” he said.
Later, Dr Mahathir told reporters that Malaysia needs more time to consider an Asean motor corporation, which involves spreading out heavy industries across the region to come up with an “Asean car”.
“The idea is good, but at the moment I don’t think we are ready. We have tried to distribute heavy industries across Asean, with each country having one heavy industry, but somehow it did not work out.
“We are talking about making an Asean car, where Malaysia hopes to play a big role.
“It will take time but I think it can be achieved in future,” he said.
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