In early January 2025, the governments of Malaysia and Singapore announced the signing of an agreement to create a special economic zone to help bolster and attract global investment.
The special zone is located in Malaysia’s southernmost Johor state, bordering Singapore, and will offer tax breaks and incentives for 11 economic sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace, tourism and energy.
In a press conference, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, “When negotiating the agreement, both sides have actively engaged stakeholders to ensure that the JS-SEZ (Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone) has the conditions to help our businesses grow together for the longer term.
“The greater potential for the JS-SEZ is not just about Singapore businesses going to Johor, but it’s about both sides working together to attract new investment projects globally.”
“Very rarely do you find two countries working together as a team. These two countries have a common strategy, to assist one another, to work and benefit from each other’s strengths,” added Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim.
Within the coming five years, officials hope the tax breaks and incentives will attract 50 projects within the zone and create 20,000 skilled jobs.
Of the announcement, Peter Choo, Chairman of CytoMed Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GDTC) which is engaged in cancer biologics, said, “The world now has a new special economic zone with tax incentives in a vibrant, new and huge Southeast Asian market. This will surely attract significant new investments and business ideas, especially in healthcare due to rapidly aging Singapore and the region as well as due to Johor’s cost competitiveness in land and labor.
“For CytoMed, this is great news as we had the vision to set up our business in Johor back in 2018. Now, multi-national corporations are looking to set up in Johor.”
Read more about CytoMed Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GDTC) HERE
Or read more about the special economic zone HERE
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