Eileen Ng, Agence France Presse

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, 3 September 2004 Malaysia yesterday unveiled plans to set up new offices in China and Saudi Arabia to promote its eight-year-old Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and seek out new business deals to bolster growth in the high-tech zone.

Information and communications technology (ICT) sales in the MSC, launched in1996 as Asias answer to Californias Silicon Valley, hit over five billion ringgit ($1. 32billion) last year, of which1 . 2billion were exported, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah said the government would leverage on its chairmanship in the57 -member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the117 -member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), as well as strong ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to secure new deals.

I am pleased to say that we have already won several international contracts in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Myanmar and Iran, among others, he said before chairing his first meeting of the MSC blue-ribbon panel of international advisors. We plan to accelerate the roll-out of products and services produced by MSC companies to the global market through stronger and more targeted marketing efforts.

Abdullah said the Multimedia Development Corporation, which oversees development in the hub south of Kuala Lumpur, would set up offices in Chinas Dalian province and in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia by the end of the year.

He said this would open up opportunities for local small and medium-sized technology firms to access the international markets and boost the countrys ICT exports.

Malaysias ICT market is expected to reach a value of $10. 49billion in2007 . This year alone, total IT spending in Malaysia is estimated to be worth $2. 5billion, he said.

Malaysias ICT industrys8 . 3percent annual growth surpassed the global average of6 . 2percent and the country has some9 . 4million Internet users, nearly175 , 000broadband subscribers and more than12 . 4million cellular subscribers, he said.

Abdullah said research and development expenditure in the MSC reached 419 million ringgit.