I had a chance to visit Cannes today to speak to the participants of MIPCOMM, one of the world's biggest annual  trade shows for multimedia content developers of the world. I am glad that my working visit to Paris coincided with this year's MIPCOMM and  I was able to make time to travel to Cannes from Paris to meet with key people in the Multimedia content industry.

Content development, in particular digital animation is an industry that has vast potential in this Cyber age, and I believe it is an area we should explore thoroughly. As I said in my speech themed "Developing Content for the World" I told the participants of MIPCOMM that Malaysia's content industry is growing very fast indeed with more than 200 companies generating revenues of over USD200 million and creating more than 7000 high-value added creative jobs. I was delighted to give them insights about world class animation works such as Saladin, Upin & Ipin and ABC Monster all of which involved homegrown Malaysian talent in their development and production.

I truly feel that digital content development, in particular high quality animation, is a field in which many Malaysians can excel. I am well aware that there are many young Malaysians out there who are incredibly creative. I know that many of our youth have colourful imaginations and they have the talent to translate that imagination into lively animation characters and enthralling story lines. If we focus on this industry and nurture it well, it will provide opportunities to such Malaysian youngsters, from the cities as well as from the urban areas, to put their artistic ability to good use and generate better income for themselves. In that process they will catapult Malaysia to a higher standing in the digital content industry. We may even someday emerge as the animation content centre for this region.

Seeing this potential, the government, through MDeC, has increased funding for the industry and have initiated a special program called the MAC3 or the Multimedia Creative Content Centre which provides funding for co-production opportunities for animation, games and visual effects development. I hope Malaysian companies take full advantage of this to increase their production capabilities and to find partners at the global level. In doing so, I also hope that they would put special focus on identifying and nurturing local animation and content development talent from among Malaysians, especially the younger set who can potentially bring Malaysian animation to much greater heights.

I am glad I was able to speak and invite international companies to invest and participate more in Malaysia's Multimedia content development industry. I believe the time is right for us to go into this industry in a big way and I sincerely hope that Malaysian companies seize the moment and make the most of the opportunities that are available to them now.