KUALA LUMPUR: Cooperation between Malaysia and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries is vital to attract, develop and maintain the flow of highly skilled and dynamic talents, Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said.
Speaking at the ASEAN Skills Forum (ASF) yesterday, he said that since the mid-20th century, Malaysia received investments from high technology industries worldwide, such as Intel Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Keysight Technologies, Agilent Technologies and Hitachi.
“Today, Malaysia is host to global tech players such as Nvidia, Micron, Infineon, Geely, Rongsheng, Microsoft, Google, Bytedance and AWS with over RM30 billion in investments,” he said in a quote by a Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp) statement today.
Sim had also announced a very important improvement to the Allowable Cost Matrix (ACM) aimed at setting a foundation for efforts to develop skills locally.
Discussions on coordinating skill development strategies in the region were held during the ASF, which was very important as Malaysia prepares to take over chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025, he said, adding that a proposed ASEAN Year of Skills 2025 was also brought up.
Meanwhile, HRD Corp chief executive Datuk Shahul Dawood said AYOS 2025 is aimed at tackling future challenges by supporting sustainable growth and competitiveness, to reduce the skills gap and ensure the ASEAN workforce can fulfil industry needs through focused training programmes and continuous improvement of skills.
“AYOS 2025 will enable regional talent exchange, allowing skilled professionals to move across ASEAN countries, help the sharing of information and tackle the lack of local skills and boost innovation and cooperation,” he said.
