Premier Abang Johari Openg said Sarawak needed to study the fund management and governance along with their investment strategies, legal and policy framework.

“Sarawak’s financial position is now quite strong, so we want to generate revenue from future surplus funds for the benefit of our future generations,” he said in a statement.

Abang Johari is leading a delegation to meet officials at the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in London today.

He hoped that the IFSWF officials would be able to share their expertise and knowledge on the operation and governance of state-owned investment funds.

IFSWF, formed in 2008, is a voluntary organisation of global sovereign wealth funds committed to work together and strengthen the community through dialogue, research and self-assessment.

The meetings will be held at the PwC headquarters in London.

Abang Johari’s delegation includes deputy premiers Awang Tengah Ali Hasan and Dr Sim Kui Hian, state secretary Abu Bakar Marzuki, state attorney-general Talat Mahmood Abdul Rashid, state financial secretary Wan Lizozman Wan Omar and deputy state secretary Abdullah Zaidel.

The delegation has met fund managers at UK Government Investment Ltd, a company wholly owned by the Treasury, to discuss policy structures intervention and development of sovereign wealth funds.

Abang Johari had previously said an ordinance would be tabled at the Sarawak state assembly in November to provide the legal framework for the formation of the state’s own sovereign wealth fund.

He had travelled to Norway and Singapore to make similar studies of the models used in these countries to operate such a fund.