Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to address this luncheon in the presence of such highly influential business leaders. I would like to extend my appreciation to Mr Justin Wood and the Economist Corporate Network for putting this together.
Businesses these days grapple with different challenges emanating from fierce competition, technological advances, socio-political changes, the degradation of the environment and unpredictable climate. Whilst these are challenging issues on their own, they are compounded by financial markets volatility induced by the monetary policies in the developed world and the slowdown in the Chinese economy.
So, let me share with you some ideas that Penang is implementing in helping businesses cope.
Firstly, my government believes that the role of the government is to stay out of business. This is because over a long period of time, we can see that the track record of government backed businesses has been dismal if not scandalous, for example Perwaja Steel.