ALOR SETAR, Sept 23 — Kedah needs the federal government’s assistance to narrow its  economic development gap with other states, says Mentri Besar, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.

He said the state government admitted that Kedah very much needed more specific attention while the federal government should know what the state really required to spur its economy.

"There are projects which can drive the state’s economic development to the level of other states, among them the often-mentioned Kulim International Airport and Kedah Rubber City.

"Sometimes we need a bit more attention from the federal government for the success of development projects... the aim is certainly to empower the people,” he told reporters after an engagement session with the Kedah government in preparing for the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) here today.

The engagement sessions with the state governments started on July 5 this year, with Kedah hosting the last in the series. It was attended by Deputy Economic Affairs Minister, Senator DMohd Radzi Md Jidin to discuss matters related to the 12MP.

Mukhriz said at the session today, the Kedah government shared the report on the state’s development performance and several arising issues with the Economic Affairs Ministry.

"Our hope is for these to be considered by the federal government in drafting the 12MP. We have forwarded our concerns to the federal government (through this session),” he added.

Meanwhile, Mohd Radzi said in preparing the 12MP, the government had taken the approach of shared prosperity, among which, was to narrow the development gap and restructure the economy to build a united nation.

He said Kedah was indeed one of the states given priority by the federal government.

He added that the government was also giving attention to transboundary economic development involving Kedah and Thailand, and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) for the state to benefit from development. — Bernama