PM calls for D-8 countries to work together on Covid-19-related issues
By Arfa Yunus - April 8, 2021 @ 8:45pm
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today urged Developing-8 (D-8) member states to work together in addressing the impact of Covid-19 pandemic collectively, especially on the alarming rise in poverty cases.
The Covid-19 outbreak, he said, had left many Malaysians struggling in their daily lives. He said in order to eradicate poverty, D-8 member states must to work hand-in-hand in resolving the issue.
The other D-8 member states are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey.
The prime minister said Malaysia's main focus under its poverty eradication strategy has been on income-generating, expansion of education and training facilities, employment generation, and modernisation of rural life as well as improvement in living conditions.
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"Malaysia will share our experience with D-8 Member States to have a joint approach in moving forward in this post Covid-19 global landscape," he said during the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation's 10th Summit held virtually today.
With eradicating poverty and rebuilding the country's economy in mind, Muhyiddin proposed for all D-8 member states to sign up for the Reciprocal Covid-19 Vaccine Certificate Recognition.
He said doing so would help speed up the reopening of the hardest-hit sectors such as the tourism industry.
He said Malaysia, which hosted the second D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Tourism in 2019, welcomed the D-8 Tourism Strategy and the Crescent Moon Initiative adopted.
"We believes this initiative is imperative in facilitating Member States to revive its tourism industry severely affected by the pandemic.
"The initiative, designed to promote tourism and cultural, social, and human and business inter-connectivity, is essential in complementing the Dhaka Declaration's aspiration to promote tourism activities among the Member States," he said.
This year's summit is hosted by Bangladesh with the theme "Partnership for a Transformative World: Harnessing the Power of Youth and Technology".
Muhyiddin noted that the pandemic has highlighted a newfound sense of urgency to the digital inclusion agenda. He said connectivity should be at the core of all national and international priorities on healthcare, education and government services among others.
"While the crisis has enabled hundreds of millions to work, learn and connect digitally, it is easy to see how it has also exacerbated the situation for far too many people in vulnerable situations around the world."
He said from internet connectivity to Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0), the government recognised the importance of these key areas as it can accelerate the growth of the country's digital economy.
"Currently, Malaysia is actively cultivating IoT based industries like e-commerce, big data analytics, AI, blockchain and automation.
"As a long-term strategy, my government is currently working closely with our colleges and universities.
"The aim is to help these colleges and universities to produce relevant and industry-ready graduates for the ICT industry, more relevant topics such as IoT and Big Data Analytics into the syllabus."
On youth empowerment in the country, the prime minister highlighted key areas such as technology, digital content, education and agriculture for the younger generation to focus on.
On technology, Muhyiddin said the newly-launched New Gen Entrepreneur Online Bootcamp, a technology-based training and business coaching program for youth entrepreneurs, will help many youths directly affected by the pandemic.
He also noted that many youths in Malaysia have begun to dabble in the agriculture industry with smart farming concept being adopted.
By enabling technologies such as the IoT or traceability systems, Muhyiddin said food supply chain can be improved as well as increasing food safety and production transparency.
"The pandemic has also changed the conventional way of learning. My government has introduced initiatives to soften the impact, including improving the digital platform infrastructure for online learning.
"It includes greater last mile connectivity in schools across rural and remote areas through stronger fibre optic connectivity and providing 150,000 laptops, together with a free limited data package for low-income students, to ensure that their education is not disrupted," he said.