KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi have condemned the Israeli war on Gaza and its attacks against Lebanon.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, during the prime minister's second visit to Egypt in conjunction with the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties, the two leaders agreed on the need to advocate for peace a security to prevail in the Middle East.
Malaysia also expressed appreciation to Egypt for facilitating the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid from Malaysia to Palestinians in Gaza.
"Both leaders reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent state of Palestine and urged the United Nations Security Council to reconsider Palestine's application for full membership, in line with Resolution A/RES/ES10/23 adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 10.
" Both leaders strongly condemn Israel's continued violations of international law, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law in its military operations which also violates the sovereignty territorial integrity of Lebanon, through its continued incursions in Lebanon and airstrikes, which resulted in the loss of over 2,000 innocent civilian lives and the immense damage of infrastructure.
"A ceasefire should be reached immediately to stop this humanitarian catastrophe. Both leaders express their full support for the full implementation of UNSC resolution 1701 in order to safeguard peace and security in the region," the statement said.
UNSC resolution 1701 was adopted in 2006 and called for a full cessation of hostilities between the Israel and Hizbollah.
On other matters, Anwar and El-Sisi agreed that both countries should enhance bilateral ties in several areas.
The statement said, leveraging on this new phase of closer friendship and cooperation, both leaders agreed ties should reach a level of strategic partnership in the near future, as a catalyst to ensuring both countries' further progress and development as well as to enable the synergy of efforts towards creating a stable, just and equitable world.
"Both leaders agreed to further strengthen political relations, by increasing the frequency of high-level exchanges between the two countries. In this vein, Malaysia is set to host the second Malaysia-Egypt Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) and Bilateral Consultation (BC) at the earliest convenience and at a mutually agreed time.
"Both leaders recognised the potential of their respective economies and expressed confidence in the continued growth of trade value and two-way investment activities.
"They acknowledged ongoing efforts to deepen business-led cooperation to intensify trade activities in the areas of digital economy, agro-commodities, renewable energy infrastructure development, transportation and maritime domain, as well as manufacturing and semiconductor sectors between both countries.
"The leaders highlighted that the two countries' comprehensive and resilient trade and investment relationships are based on the common interest in free, fair and open trade."
The statement said Anwar and El-Sisi also agreed that the Asean free trade agreements and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) would be beneficial for both countries, respectively.
Another area in which the two leaders saw beneficial was the "longstanding and robust" defence and security relationship between the two nations, said the statement, adding that they agreed to undertake the necessary measures to enhance and expand cooperation here.
"This includes, among other efforts, regular dialogue and consultations, information sharing, joint training, counter-terrorism initiatives, and addressing transnational crimes, such as cybersecurity threats and cryptocurrency fraud."
The statement said Anwar and El-Sisi also underscored the importance of maintaining and building higher education and training cooperation and support between the two countries.
"In this vein, Malaysia is pleased with Egypt's gesture of friendship in granting scholarship opportunities for Malaysian students to benefit from further studies in Egyptian institutions of higher learning."
Meanwhile, Anwar thanked El-Sisi, the Egyptian government and its people for facilitating his successful visit.
He said he looks forward to reciprocating Egypt's warm and friendly hospitality through a state visit by El-Sisi to Malaysia at a mutually convenient time in the future.