SK Group, South Korea’s second largest conglomerate by
market capitalisation, has signed
a Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with the Malaysian Government to establish
a strategic partnership under the Government’s National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS). SK Group
will work with the Malaysian Government to create new high-growth businesses
and investment opportunities in key sectors of the economy. The two will
collaborate in key areas such as ICT & 5G, Oil & Gas, Green Technology
as well as urban development.
As a first step, SK Group will establish a Regional Head
Office in Malaysia, covering ASEAN, India and the Middle East. The SK Group
will also work towards developing highly skilled Malaysian talents by training
and grooming future Malaysian business leaders.
A second MOU was signed between Cyberview Sdn Bhd (Cyberview), a government-owned company
under the Ministry of Finance, and two SK Group subsidiaries, namely SK
Holdings Co., Ltd. and SK Telecom Co., Ltd. for the development of Blue Ocean
Smart Cities in Malaysia, starting with Cyberjaya.
Cyberview is responsible for spearheading the development of
Cyberjaya, one of Malaysia’s first technology hubs, which forms a core part of MSC Malaysia (previously known as
Multimedia Super Corridor).
Blue Ocean Smart City in Cyberjaya is expected to serve as a
model smart city solution that can be adopted in other urban centres across
Malaysia and beyond.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressed
belief that the SK Group’s expertise in this area, combined with Cyberview’s
strategic vision for building smart cities, will help to deliver transformative
change in the infrastructure, the technology, and the liveability of Malysian
cities.
The design and selection of NBOS initiatives are based on
two key principles of delivering high income through economic growth and
integrated development and enhancing the level of public well-being through
greater security and social inclusion to close the social distance between
various groups in society.
The PM said that unprecedented levels of collaboration have
been achieved through NBOS across than 90 government ministries and agencies
along with many private sector players. This has allowed the delivery of
services such as Urban Transformation Centres,
while saving government expenditure of up to 2 billion ringgit (USD 512
million) by housing all the different services under one roof.
“As our cities become smarter, our devices more connected
through the Internet of Things, and whole new industries, jobs and
opportunities created, we want Malaysia to be at the forefront of these
developments. I am sure that the strategic partnership under NBOS between
Malaysia and SK Group will be able to make a significant contribution to that
goal,” said PM Najib Razak.