Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz (The Edge filepix by Shahrill Basri)

MELAKA (May 18): The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) is set to engage in more proactive collaborative efforts with several ministries to empower the aerospace industry with highly skilled workers, as well as in research and development (R&D) efforts.

Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said there is a need to address the shortage of local experts in several sectors, including aerospace.

“As such, Miti will work together with ministries such as the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to ensure a continuous supply of talents, which would also give us a competitive advantage in attracting investments in terms of infrastructure and skilled manpower.

“The collaboration will also ensure that the talents produced by the higher education institutions are relevant and meet the industries’ needs, in addition to being one of the platforms which could boost workers’ income in the industry,” he said.

Tengku Zafrul said this to reporters after officiating the opening of CTRM Aero Composites Sdn Bhd (CTRM)’s new factory in Batu Berendam here on Thursday (May 18).

As for R&D, he said MitiI has engaged with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) to discuss how local R&D results can lead to positive spillovers for the industry, as well as the nation.

“This is important, as R&D can produce what is needed by industries, and at the same time, we want the local R&D experts and the results to be capable of commercialisation at the global level,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said that CTRM has been awarded a new contract worth RM3.4 billion for the manufacturing and production of aero components for several level 1 vendors that are supplying to global aircraft company Airbus.

The contract runs from 2022 to 2030, with a cumulative value of RM6.64 billion until 2030.

“In terms of human capital, CTRM will increase their technical workforce by 24% or 300 people in 2023-2024, in addition to increasing small and medium enterprises’ revenues by 25% through the domestic supply chain.

“This clearly proves that leading multinational companies consider Malaysia’s aerospace industry landscape as stable and conducive to their global supply chain,” he added.