Thursday, March 26, 2015

Sabah to benefit from Maritime Silk Road with direct KK-Wuhan flights


KOTA KINABALU: Direct flight connections between Kota Kinabalu and Wuhan, China would see the possibility of Sabah benefiting from part of the Maritime Silk Road funding of USD40 billion offered by the China government.

Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir was informed of this by Dr Tan Beng Huat, the Sabah Maritime Silk Route Society president, during a courtesy call at the City Hall together with visiting professors from Wuhan, China yesterday.

According to Tan, Chinese President Xi JinPing had initiated a project called “Maritime Silk Road Project” for all the countries along the silk route, involving 10 countries from China all the way to South East Asia and passing through the Straits of Malacca, the Indian Ocean to Eastern Africa.

Tan said China Government had pledged USD40 billion to fund all cooperative activities, such as infrastructure, cultural promotion, maritime research and tourism activities.

Since its formation in 2013, Tan said the Sabah Maritime Silk Route Society had been doing their research on the said project and he opined that the establishment of the ‘sister city’ between Wuhan and Kota Kinabalu would be a great advantage.

Apart from opening a new ‘tourism’ market, he said the proposed direct flight connections between the two cities would boost cultural, economic and education exchanges.

On the two visiting professors, namely Yao Wijun and Lim Weng Kon from the Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Tan said the university is rated as one of the top three in China.

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