Sabah to Revive Barter Trade with the Philippines, Indonesia

Kota Kinibalu, MINA – Sabah plans to revive barter trade with neighbouring countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia, which was halted by the previous government on security concerns, Bernama reported.

Its Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, said the trading system would be streamlined with new rules to ensure that it was functioning as intended without contravening the country’s laws.

“We will discuss issues related to barter trade at the level of the Sabah state, the Philippines and Indonesia. I have requested for the matter to be discussed at the Cabinet level so we can revive the barter trade, but we need to install a system.”

“We need to prepare the landing ports for the barter traders. There are several landing points, namely Kudat, Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau,” he told reporters after chairing the state cabinet meeting here today.

According to Mohd Shafie, among the rules that the parties involved must adhere to is to refrain from selling subsidised goods such as cooking oil and rice from this country to their overseas trading partners.

However, he said, other unsubsidised products such as food from neighbouring countries and from Sabah itself could be traded through the system.        (T//RS5/RS1);

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)