Malaysia, Japan agree to lift ties to strategic partnership

Malaysia and Japan agreed to raise their bilateral ties to strategic partnership following talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his visiting Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, in Tokyo on May 25.
Malaysia and Japan agreed to raise their bilateral ties to strategicpartnership following talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abeand his visiting Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, in Tokyo on May 25.

Addressing a joint press conference after themeeting, Malaysian PM Najib said the two countries decided to raisetheir relationship to a Strategic Partnership.

The tiesbetween both countries have progressed well over the years alongsidecooperation in various fields such as economy, tourism andpeople-to-people exchange, he said.

Both sidesshared the determination to enhance their collaboration in five areas,namely cooperation for peace and stability; achieving free, open andstable sea; investment through Look East Policy (LEP) 2.0, expandingcooperation in cultural and people-to-people exchange; and joiningregional and global agenda, he added.

On his part,Abe stressed on cooperation in advanced industrial technologies as wellas service and managerial skills should be expedited.

Japan would launch the LEP 2.0 Training Programme, a new cost-sharingtraining programme, targeting to accept 500 trainees from Malaysia overthe next five years, the Japanese Prime Minister noted.

He also pledged his support to Malaysia as the chair of ASEAN in leading the bloc into integration.

In addition, both leaders agreed to launch negotiations forcooperation on the transfer of defence equipment and technology.

However, no deal was reached on the 350-kilometre Singapore – Kualua Lumpur rail link.

Concerning China’s massive land reclamation in the East Sea, Abe andNajib urged China and involved parties to settle disputes anddifferences through peaceful means and in accordance with universallyrecognised principles of international law.

Theleaders reaffirmed the significance of maintaining peace, stability,security and freedom of navigation in and over-flight over the East Sea,and called on the early establishment of an effective code of conductin the East Sea.

They also confirmed their partnership inthe fight against terrorism along with the reforms of the United NationsSecurity Council, and negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP).

Prime Minister Najib Razak is on a three-day official visit to Japan starting from May 24.-VNA

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