KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and France will strengthen intelligence sharing to counter the growing threat of the Islamic State (IS), said Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.
The Defence Minister, who concluded his two-day working visit to France Thursday, said the intelligence sharing will focus on "returning IS fighters" from territories lost in Iraq and Syria.
"We touched on a broad spectrum of issues of strategic importance and operational interest for both our countries.
"We also deliberated on concerns regarding the dynamic global security landscape," he said in a statement after attending the 3rd Malaysia-France Defence Joint High Strategic Committee Meeting (DJHSCM).
Hishammuddin and his French counterpart Yves Le Drian co-chair DJHSCM.
Malaysia also recognises significant developments in the cooperation between the defence industries of Malaysia and France, he added.
"In this regard, Malaysia considers France a close European partner in defence and it is our hope that this will lead to mutual benefits," he said.
On the Defence Industry Working Group, there are many programmes that France has committed to the development of Malaysia’s Armed Forces.
"Currently, we are collaborating on the building of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the refit of our submarines, analysing offset programmes for the Airbus A400M and the (Eurocopter) EC725.
"Subsequently, in the Education and Training Working Group, we discussed several courses that the National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM) has introduced in cooperation with French institutes as part of the offset programmes, such as the MSc in Aeronautical Engineering, MSc in Maritime Technology and PhD in Aviation," he said.
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