Senior Minister and International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, during a courtesy call on former Japan prime minister and special envoy of Japan’s prime minister to Malaysia Shinzo Abe, took the opportunity to deliberate on various issues of mutual interest. (Photo: the star.com.my) During a meeting with visiting special envoy of Japan's PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe, Malaysian Senior Minister and International Trade andIndustry Minister Azmin Ali had dicussed various issues of mutual interest, theInternational Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) said in a statement.
The topics of discussion covered the enhancement ofbilateral trade and investment relations, the 40th anniversary of the Look EastPolicy, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensiveand Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Japan's hostingof the Expo 2025 Osaka.
The officials acknowledged that in recent years, bothcountries have been expanding the horizon of cooperation, including in measuresagainst COVID-19, smart cities development, communication infrastructure, andenergy transition toward net zero carbon.
Both sides agreed on the imperative of working together totackle the challenges of the new era, particularly in facing headlong issuesrelated to the disruption of the global supply chain, the ministry said.
On RCEP, Abe said he was looking forward to the agreementcoming into force for Malaysia on March 18, expressing the hope that Malaysiawould also soon ratify CPTPP.
Last year, Japan was ranked as Malaysia's fourth largestoverall global trading partner, while Malaysia was Japan's 10th largest tradingpartner. Their total bilateral trade hit 148.98 billion RM.
Abe began his visit to Malaysia on March 10./.
VNA
