KOTA KINABALU, March 19 (Bernama) -- Bahrain has shown interest in a seaweed cultivation project in Sabah and may consider possible joint ventures.
Yayasan Sabah group's executive chairman and director Tan Sri Datu Khalil Datu Jamalul said this was indicated by Bahrain's Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Dr Nezar Sadiq Al-Baharnah who led a delegation to call on him at Menara Tun Mustapha near here Friday.
Dr Nezar, who is also chairman of Tamkeen, Bahrain's agency for small and medium industries (SMIs), and his entourage are here on a fact-finding mission to establish networking for possible joint ventures in SMIs between Malaysia and Bahrain.
Seaweed is a source of raw material for processing of carrageenan, an alternative to animal-based gelatin as food stabilising agent which is in used in pharmaceutical and other industrial products worldwide.
"Our seawaters are ideal for seaweed cultivation and the potential in the industry is huge. Yayasan Sabah's seaweed cultivation is carried out in Semporna (in the eastern part of Sabah)," said Datu Khalil.
He said Dr Nezar also expressed an interest in Malaysian halal products, saying that this was added value to products which could do well in markets in the Middle East and Europe.
Datu Khalil said in their discussions, he also touched on Yayasan Sabah group's forestry downstream activities such as the production of plywood, veneer and blockboard from its subsidiary in Tawau Plywood Manufacturing Sdn Bhd.
The discussions also touched on biotechnolgy in the tissue culture of superior teak and seaweed cultivation from Yayasan Sabah's fisheries and food division as well as furniture making from its Innoprise Wood Products Sdn Bhd as possible areas that the visitors could look into, he said.
-- BERNAMA
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