UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak (Photo: Reuters)
Malaysia and the UK reasserted their commitment to enhancing bilateral cooperation in the key areas of trade, investment, education and defence on July 30.
The Malaysian Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying that UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak agreed to further the two countries’ cooperative ties in the aforementioned fields.
Specifically, the two sides hoped to embrace trade links on the basis of bilateral trade growing steadily at 2 percent per year for the past decade and exceeding 17 billion RM (over 4.5 billion USD) last year.
In terms of investments, the two leaders recognised that Malaysia’s involvement in the Battersea Power Station Project in the UK, which was valued at 41 billion RM (nearly 10.9 billion USD), had generated a lot of interest.
The UK has invested 15.4 billion RM (4.1 billion USD) in Malaysia in various fields, such as retail, pharmaceuticals, and oil and gas.
The two PMs agreed that education had always been one of the pillars of cooperation between Malaysia and the UK.
To date, more than 17,000 Malaysian students are enrolled in academic courses in the UK.
The Malaysian PM welcomed the UK’s offer to assist Malaysian public schools in improving the quality of teaching in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The UK has also launched the “Great Year of Education” promotion campaign, with the hope of making Malaysia the hub of education development in ASEAN.
Both leaders exchanged their opinions on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Malaysia hoped to cooperate with the UK and other international partners in the fight against terrorism.
Malaysia is the UK Prime Minister’s final destination on his tour of four Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.-VNA
