Nation must move up value chain rapidly to remain sustainable - Mustapa

Malaysia must move up the value chain rapidly, beyond manufacturing and production, to remain sustainable, said Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

To achieve this, he said, the country needed leaders with new mindsets, fresh competencies and specialised skills.

"Our leaders must be able to identify global opportunities to take us up the value chain," he said here today.

Mustapa said this at the launch of the inaugural Leadership Series 2013, which aims at developing the next generation leaders.

The Leadership Series, which attracted 250 young professionals, is organised by GlobalNxt University in association with Young Corporate Malaysians.

Earlier, Mustapa said education remained an instrumental and significant enabler to Malaysia's transformation journey to a high-income economy by 2020.

GlobalNxt University, which is part of Manipal Education network, is a registered Malaysian university specialising in online education. Young Corporate Malaysians is a business club for young Malaysian professionals between the ages of 21 to 30.

It is a platform to bridge new members of the corporate world with chief executive officers and industry leaders.