Sabah is both a strategic geographic location to invest as well as one of the best places in Asia to live in, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau.

He said the complete 2016 Retire Overseas Annual Index ranked Kota Kinabalu and thus Sabah as one of the top 10 locations, the only place in Asia to make it to the list.

“We are known world-wide as a leading destination for eco-tourism with good air connectivity with many parts of the world,” added the Trade and Industry Minister.

“Sabah is a conducive location to undertake your business. It is also a place that offers fun activities to unwind from a hard day at the office. 

You can say that we offer the best of both worlds,” he said at the Sabah Investment Seminar in Okura Hotel, here, Wednesday afternoon.

He said the ministry had identified and developed a number of industrial parks for investors, namely the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Sogip), the Sandakan Furniture Hub and the POIC Lahad Datu.

“We have developed these industrial parks with the requisite infrastructures and facilities to jump-start businesses,” said Madius, adding “we are always open to new and interesting business proposals that may need a different location outside of these specified industrial areas.”

He said apart from having raw materials such as palm oil, timber, crude oil and gas and many more, Sabah has the potential to become the gateway to Asean as well as a regional distribution hub for the broader Asia-Pacific region.

Madius is part of Sabah delegation on a trade and investment mission led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal from Nov 28 to Dec 7 in Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan.

Shafie and Madius witnessed the signings of several memorandum of understanding as well as directly involved in bilateral meetings throughout the trip.