Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 25 began a two-day official visit to Malaysia to further enhance bilateral relations between the two countries.

After the state welcome ceremony, PM Abe held talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the Look East Policy.

Speaking at the joint press conference, PM Najib said Malaysia and Japan have agreed on strengthening the second wave of the "Look East Policy", which would not be limited to training and education, but should be more forward-looking with better focus and more economic-oriented.

Both governments pledged to encourage further partnerships between Malaysian companies and multinational corporations and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the areas of green technology and renewable energy.

The other areas include key technical services, institutional support and other high valued-added sectors to promote Malaysia as an investment hub within the region and to cultivate research and development and commercialisation among Malaysian SMEs aided by their Japanese counterparts.

For his part, PM Abe affirmed the Japanese government’s commitment towards the second wave of the Look East Policy to further strengthen bilateral relationship between both countries.

He said the two sides will promote cooperation in infrastructure to boost the growth of Malaysia and agreed to make use of Japan ’s high technology expertise especially in high-speed train and water and energy system in Malaysia .

Both sides recognised the need to establish a large-scale research or academic joint programme between Malaysia-Japan Institute of Technology (MJIT) and major Japanese companies and industries in the area of higher or advance technology.

In addition, PM Najib said the two leaders also discussed maritime and defence security, tourism and youth exchanges as well as regional and international issues.-VNA