KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has expressed hope for positive outcomes ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The meeting for the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Implementation Action Council (MTPMA) scheduled for this Thursday afternoon is aimed at resolving outstanding issues related to the historic agreement.
Hajiji stated that while some issues under the MA63 have already been addressed, several matters remain unresolved.
"There are still pending issues that need to be settled. The purpose of this meeting is to untangle and achieve progress on several issues outlined in the MA63," Hajiji told the media after launching the Eighth World Engineering, Science and Technology Congress (ESTCON) at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here.
When asked about the potential outcomes of the meeting, he said: "There must be positive results. Every meeting has a positive outcome."
Earlier, Hajiji said Sabah must have quality tertiary education institutions to provide excellent Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related qualifications for Sabah students.
He added on the digitalisation initiatives, Sabah is pursuing its vision of a thriving digital economy, pushing to accelerate digital transformation initiatives in Sabah.
"In November of last year, we signed an agreement with Huawei Technologies Malaysia at the Huawei Headquarters in Shenzhen, China, aimed at empowering our state and its citizens to reap the benefits of technological innovation, fostering economic growth and improved public services.
"This will be in agriculture, smart manufacturing under Industry 4.0, tourism, smart city planning, e-commerce, digital infrastructure, inclusive connectivity and digital government.
"This collaborative effort would include the implementation of digital services that are AI-ready and data-centric for government, businesses and the community," he said.
As for the congress, he said it is organised by Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and Petronas for the first time here with over 1,000 participants from 25 countries.