KUCHING, May 6 — The Sarawak Action Economic Council (SAEC) will seek the views from stakeholders to formulate action plans for achieving a new economic agenda in the post-Covid-19 era, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg said today.

He said it is pertinent for the state to get views of the stakeholders, such as chambers of commerce, professionals, and academics to deliberate in detail the various economic sectors in order to formulate action plans.

“The council will study the details of the propositions on these key economic sectors that are to be submitted to the government by September 2020,” he told reporters after chairing the SAEC meeting here.

He said the key sectors are digital economy and environmental sustainability; data centre and innovation; mining; commercial agriculture; downstream manufacturing, re-greening through aggressive reforestation; tourism; quality service to the people; renewable energy; and education and human capital.

He said Sarawak will build upon the digital economy and environmental sustainability as two core principles in developing its economic, social and governance sectors as it moves forward.

He added to enhance the state’s economic productivity and competitiveness, the state government will intensify the Digital Economy Agenda across all sectors of Sarawak’s economy.

“Hence, Data Centre plays a pivotal role in driving innovation in the digital application sphere,” he said.

He said a sustainable environment will feature prominently in the state’s future development plan.

“We will ensure that Sarawak achieves a clean, healthy, and resilient environment for the current and future generations,” he said.

He said the impact brought by the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the creation and emergence of “New Norms” globally and that there is no longer business as usual anymore.

“This is the scenario that we have never experience before and would require us to exercise a new way of doing things now and in the future.

“Therefore, we have reviewed our development strategies under the 12th Malaysia Plan to recover from severe economic impact due to Covid-19 so as to remain resilient, adapting to “new normal” and promote future economic growth and development,” he said.