PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia and Pakistan will convene the first Bilateral Consultation in Islamabad next year.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed the set-up of the Bilateral Consultation between senior officials of both Ministries of Foreign Affairs as the mechanism to intensify engagements between both sides.
“In setting the tone and future direction of bilateral relations between the two countries, both leaders stressed the importance of exchanges of visits at all levels, with a view to further expand the depth of bilateral relations,” said both leaders in a joint statement today.
Reflecting longstanding and substantial economic, commercial, and investment ties, both leaders welcomed continued efforts to intensify cooperation between Malaysia and Pakistan.
They underpinned their shared desire to strengthen bilateral economic ties, expand trade and investment, create favourable conditions for commerce and business in both countries, particularly in palm oil, agricultural products, food retail, halal products, automotive parts, energy, science and technology, and telecommunication.
Both leaders also welcomed continuing efforts to further enhance bilateral economic relations and underscored importance of these efforts in advancing cooperation between Malaysia and Pakistan.
On the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) between Malaysia and Pakistan signed in November 2017, Dr Mahathir reiterated Malaysia’s commitment to assist Pakistan in addressing its energy shortfall.
In this regard, Imran Khan welcomed Malaysia’s cooperation in LNG and other energy sectors including hydroelectric and renewable resources.
Also, it added, the sole electric provider company in Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, was open to business opportunities with Pakistan including in renewable energy.
“Recognising Malaysia’s success in the high-tech industry hub in the northern state of Penang, Pakistan had highlighted its intention to explore greater collaboration between high-tech industries in Malaysia and Pakistan.
“Malaysia invited Pakistani companies to invest both manufacturing and services sectors where the companies are able to leverage Malaysia’s strategic location in expanding their investments into Asean and the Asia Pacific regions.
“Pakistan invited potential Malaysian companies to explore the possibility of investing in the Special Economic Zones to take advantage of Pakistan’s strategic location at the crossroads of Central, South and West Asia.”
The Pakistani prime minister had undertaken a two-day official visit to Malaysia at the invitation of Dr Mahathir, starting yesterday.
Both leaders held fruitful and in-depth discussions, which took place in a warm and cordial atmosphere.
Imran Khan congratulated Dr Mahathir on his electoral victory and commended the smooth and peaceful transition of power from the previous government.
Dr Mahathir also congratulated Imran Khan on his recent resounding election as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan and wished Pakistan greater progress in its national development under the new government.
Both leaders acknowledged the long history of close cooperation between both countries since Malaysia’s independence.
“The Malaysian side recalled the contribution by Justice Abdul Hameed of Pakistan, member of the Reid Commission, in the drafting of the Malaysian Constitution.”
Both leaders reaffirmed the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation and looked forward to the 13th Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation (JCDC) which will be convened in 2019 in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia invited Pakistan to participate in the upcoming Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in 2019 and Pakistan welcomed Malaysia’s participation in the upcoming Defence Expo IDEAS-2018.
Malaysian side took note of the massive counter-terrorism efforts that Pakistan has successfully undertaken in an effort to eliminate terrorism.
Recognising Malaysia’s efforts in eliminating corruption, Imran Khan expressed Pakistan’s keen interest in learning from Malaysia’s
experience and accomplishments in this field.
As two peace-loving Islamic nations, the two leaders agreed to increase their collaborative efforts to uphold the true values of Islam in international fora while strengthening the solidarity of Muslim Ummah.
They reaffirmed their commitment to work more closely on issues affecting the Muslim world including taking joint efforts in underscoring Muslim sensitivities in attacking Muslim holy personalities and religious belief.
Imran Kgan invited Dr Mahathir to visit Pakistan which he accepted with appreciation.
The dates of the visit will be coordinated through diplomatic channels.