GEORGE TOWN, Jan 11 — The tiny state of Penang in Malaysia hopes to attract and nurture about 150,000 talents in various sectors that will enable it to become a regional economic hub by 2022.

Datuk Seri Lee Kah Choon who is special investment adviser to the Penang chief minister said careful planning is needed to draw and groom talents if the state is to grow further.

"In order to grow and become a growth centre, we need to focus on attracting and nurturing more talents here,” he said in a virtual press conference earlier today.

He said Penang can be a centre of growth in this region covering northern Malaysia, southern Thailand and northern Sumatra.

"This is the thrust of our economic direction, to become a centre of growth as we already have links in terms of import and export with southern Thailand and Sumatra,” he said.

He said InvestPenang has set up a dedicated team to focus on talent acquisition and to promote Penang as "My Penang, My Workplace”.

He said the team will address enquiries from those interested in moving into Penang to work.

"The team will provide support programmes such as job matching and linking to potential employers, upskilling programmes and ease the process of settling down in Penang,” he said.

He said the state hoped to attract talents, not only in the manufacturing sector, but also in the services and arts sectors.

"We want to attract entrepreneurs, nurses, doctors and even craftsmen since we have a Unesco world heritage site,” he said.

Lee said this does not mean Penang is aiming to attract more foreign workers as the talents could be from other states and even those who were from Penang and are currently employed in other states or countries.

Even by nurturing and upskilling local talents, Lee said the state will still need support from talents from other states and countries.

"The availability of qualified talent is a critical factor in attracting foreign direct investment and domestic direct investment, and the state’s success in attracting strategic investments translates into thousands of new, high-quality job opportunities every year,” he said.

He said nurturing the talent pool in Penang is its utmost priority for 2021.

"The state government will endeavour to identify, nurture and develop local talent, and the economy, to its fullest potential,” he said.

When asked about the projection for 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the trends in 2020 are expected to spill over into the first half of this year.

"We expect trends such as closure of international borders, sluggish economic activities, periodic disruptions to manufacturing production and a deferment of direct investments will continue for the first half of 2021,” he said.

He said once the vaccinations arrived and the community is building up herd immunity, the situation will be better in the second half of 2021.

"I am positive that in the second half of 2021, things will improve and 2022 will be a very good year for us to forge ahead,” he said.

As for investments, Lee said Penang already recorded RM10.6 billion in total investments for the first nine months of 2020.

"We are hoping to record RM13 billion in total investments for the whole of 2020,” he said.

He said InvestPenang aimed to attract investments totaling about RM5 billion for 2021.

He said this is due to the pandemic and sluggish economy globally.