Sabah Governor Tun Juhar Mahiruddin has welcomed the state government's initiative in introducing key performance indicators (KPIs), based on the 10 State Key Result Areas, in all ministries in Sabah.

He said the initiative was timely in ensuring the development plans in Sabah were strategically realised.

"I am confident the implementation of this initiative can raise the quality of civil service in the state, which is the main artery in implementing the government's development policies and aspirations."

Juhar said this delivering the state government's keynote address at the opening of the first meeting of the second session of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly yesterday.

Meanwhile, Juhar said that 2018 proved to be a tough year as Sabah was not exempted from the national and global-level economic challenges, including the falling prices of main commodities like palm oil and rubber, depreciation of the ringgit and others.

However, he said Sabah's economy in 2018 recorded a positive trade balance of RM26 billion compared to RM23 billion in 2017.

"Sabah's international trade sector did well, boosted by the increase in the state's overall exports in 2018, which reached RM56.6 billion compared to RM51.7 billion in the corresponding period in 2017," he said.

Meanwhile, Juhar said the government had set a target of increasing the manufacturing sector's contribution to Sabah's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 7.5 per cent in 2017 to 35 per cent by 2025.

"Hence, the government will strive to reach the target, including increasing mastery of technology, especially driven by the fourth Industrial Revolution, raising the readiness of raw materials to be processed and the added value, such as crude palm oil, oil and gas, timber and agricultural products.

"In addition, the government will empower the capability of the small and medium industry (SMI) in Sabah by targetting the setting up of 100 small and medium enterprises every year," he said.

He also said that various efforts were being carried out by the government to reduce investment costs and increase logistics efficiency to attract more high-value investments in the state, especially in industrial parks and clusters like the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP), Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu and the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP).