Johor!!! Johor!!! Johor!!!

MUAR, The International Trade and Industry Minister is preparing a proposal paper on measures to assist the manufacturing sector and boost trade and foreign investment which have been affected by the global economic crisis.Its minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the proposal paper would be submitted to the Finance Ministry soon and if accepted, the proposals would be included in the second economic stimulus package, which would be launched soon.
He said the content of the proposal paper was based on views compiled from the ministry's dialogues with the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, chambers of commerce, guilds and business associations and non-governmental organisations since last year."The manufacturing sector, for instance, is facing supply problem which is expected to worsen if there is no government support," he told reporters after launching a community programme between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the residents of Kundang Ulu, here, today.
He said with government support, at least the situation in the manufacturing sector would not worsen to the extent of causing massive unemployment and other accompanying effects.On investment, Muhyiddin said his ministry suggested additional measures deemed necessary to the existing incentives to attract foreign investors.He said although the World Bank expected foreign investment to shrink this year, there were foreign companies which were keen to move their operations to Malaysia due to increasing costs in their own countries.
"If we can provide an additional package, I believe we can still draw some investment into this country," he said, adding that investment level this year would be difficult to predict.On trade, Muhyiddin said although the volume of exports dropped, efforts must be made to look for new foreign markets for the local products.He believed that the government's decision to reduce electricity tariffs, to be announced in a week or two, could help prevent the manufacturing sector from being too adversely affected by the global economic crisis.