KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Malaysia and China are exploring new areas of common interests to strengthen bilateral collaboration, apart from existing cooperation in economy, trade and investment, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin, who held a discussion via video conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang this morning, said the cooperation included aspects of COVID-19 vaccine production through the ‘fill and finish’ method in Malaysia and collaborations in the fields of electronic commerce, high technology and digital economy.
Other areas of cooperation were in agriculture and agrofood, development of food security and poverty eradication programmes, he added.
“The Chinese government has given a very positive response for these proposed collaborations to be discussed in greater detail at the relevant ministerial level.
“Both of us agreed that Malaysia-China bilateral ties have remained close and continued to expand positively in the face of bitter challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said in a posting on his Facebook account today.
On COVID-19, Muhyiddin said they saw the need for closer and more proactive cooperation between the two countries to overcome the pandemic and drive the recovery process, including continued collaboration in fields which had been agreed upon, such as vaccine supply, food security and secure supply chains.
The prime minister expressed his appreciation to China for being the first country to extend aid to Malaysia in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was proof of the strong bilateral ties between the two nations.
On economy and trade, the two leaders shared the view that the business and investment communities in Malaysia and China needed to further strengthen economic ties by seizing opportunities arising from the business-friendly policies as well as conducive and profitable environment.
At the meeting, the first ever between the two leaders, Muhyiddin and Li also touched on international issues involving the situation in Palestine and Myanmar.
“The two of us agreed that situations affecting the people of the two countries and surrounding regions need immediate pressure from the whole international community for the issues to be settled fast.
“In this regard, I also briefed him on the steps taken by Malaysia and other countries on the international platform,” he added.
