KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — The Digital Ministry remains committed to ensuring that the implementation of approved programmes and policies of the Council of Digital Economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (MED4IRN) achieves its objectives, said its minister Gobind Singh Deo.

He said that among MED4IRN’s achievements in 2023 was approving the implementation of a single-window initiative to coordinate and reorganise functions, especially related to collaboration across agencies and players in the startup company ecosystem, to strengthen the ecosystem and increase the involvement of local start-up companies.

"Secondly, (the council) expedited the implementation of the national digital identity development project (IDN), which is a digital self-identification and authentication system via using a single authentic source based on the individual’s biometric characteristics,” he said.

Gobind was replying to Salamiah Mohd Nor’s (PN-Temerloh) question about MED4IRN’s achievements in 2023 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said the council also approved the proposed development of the Kuala Lumpur 20 (KL20) Action Plan, which aims for Malaysia to be in the top 20 in the global startup ecosystem by 2030.

This plan, which outlines efforts to develop Kuala Lumpur as a hub for regional start-ups and digital companies, will be launched next month.

He said MED4IRN has also identified efforts and initiatives to strengthen the venture capital ecosystem for the government to consider, taking note of the position of the venture capital financing ecosystem that includes funding from the public and private sectors.

The MED4IRN meeting, which convened twice in 2023, was attended by ministers, cluster chairmen, ministers holding portfolios related to digital initiatives and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0), and representatives from the private sector, including industry players, members of academia, think tanks, and civil society organisations. — Bernama