KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 ― The Ministry of Defence is in the midst of completing the policy paper to strengthen the country's defence industry and explore new areas in defence, including cybersecurity, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Deputy Minister Adly Zahari said this is because the country’s defence industry is largely involved in MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) rather than manufacturing.

"We want the existing local expertise in the industries to sustain and be more competitive in the future,” he said in reply to Senator Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai who wanted to know about the government’s efforts to boost the defence industry.

Apart from that, Adly said the ministry is also working on improving existing memoranda of understanding for the procurement of national defence assets.

"In the context of technology transfer, we always establish the Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP) in contracts because this is an aspect that we prioritise so that Malaysia can focus on MRO,” he said. ― Bernama