The government is committed to advancing the rare earth element (REE) industry by simultaneously developing both the upstream and downstream sectors to meet industrial demands, said Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday (Nov 28), Rafizi emphasised that this strategic approach aims to equip industry players, including international companies, to capitalise on the opportunities available in Malaysia.
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00:00CERDC and the company by other are the U.S.
00:30If not, these minerals are exported to China.
00:37Firstly, the price is low.
00:40Secondly, it will run out quickly.
00:44Thirdly, we will lose the opportunity to get high-tech investment in Malaysia.
00:53The dynamic of the REI industry is that China is the dominant country.
01:06The laws of China do not allow the processing of REI abroad.
01:16This is one of the things that needs to be managed by the government.
01:22I think the government's desire to implement the processing plan in Malaysia will continue.
01:32It will be an important agenda at the national level.
01:40The negotiations will continue.
01:45Will there be a second REI?
01:48I think the government will leave the room for Malaysia to negotiate the process.
01:59What is China's reaction so far?
02:04Negotiations between the countries should not be held.
02:10If all things work well, which setting should we focus on first?
02:23Most probably, it will come together. Upstream is easy.
02:27Even before we were talking about the processing plan,
02:35some of the upstream activities had already taken place.
02:42There were some in Kedah, some in Perak.
02:46It's just that this was exported as carbonic raw materials, which commands very low value.
02:56The main difference of this administration is putting that very ambitious target
03:05that we want to develop our REI beyond the traditional exporting of raw materials.
03:12It's just that, as I mentioned in my speech, our view is that this cannot be done sequentially.
03:20It means that we cannot go, let's focus and do this quietly first
03:26and get the downstream processing plan operational.
03:32Then we start talking to partners to bring in the next level investments.
03:37Investors need to know that this is Malaysia's plan,
03:41that our ambition is to begin processing in three years' time
03:46because they need a lot of time to reconfigure their business plan.
03:51The knowledge that Malaysia aspires to have processing plans in three years' time
03:58will allow partners from around the world, Japanese investors, to take that into consideration.
04:06I feel that if we are able to do that and if the federal government is able to pull it off,
04:12then the organic growth and clustering of the more downstream industry will happen by itself.
04:19That's the reason, for example, today we have this session
04:23because it's very important to communicate to Japanese investors
04:28that this features prominently in the government's plan
04:33and that will allow them to talk to us further.
04:37Investment doesn't take one or two weeks.
04:40Investment takes years.
04:43At the very least, I'm hoping and I think what will happen is that
04:49East Coast is no longer just being seen as East Coast.
04:54Suddenly East Coast is an investment destination
05:01that is able to attract high-value and high-technology investments,
05:07which is very different from what we have today.
05:10That process is already happening and we will take a few years
05:14and we have to deliver some of the key components of the whole master plan.
05:21But I think the roadmap and the plan is quite robust in order to balance.
05:37For more UN videos visit www.un.org