PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Friday (May 19) received a courtesy call from China's 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Chairman Zhao Leji.
The hour-long meeting at Perdana Putra here was held as part of Zhao's three-day working visit to Malaysia beginning on Thursday (May 18).
Also present were Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing and International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
At the meeting, Anwar thanked the government of China for the wonderful reception given to him during his meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping throughout his official visit to the country from March 29 to April 1.
He said there were interests from China to invest in Malaysia in trading, education, and research development, among other things.
Anwar said both leaders were of the same opinion that Malaysia and China should continue high-level visits aimed at strengthening and consolidating further bilateral relations which had been elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013.
He said Malaysia and China had also agreed to enhance the cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) such as the twin parks project (Two Countries, Twin Parks), the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project and Automotive Hi-Tech Valley (AHTV).
Both countries would also continue promoting Parliamentary cooperation and exchanges between the NPC and Parliament of Malaysia as well as fostering people-to-people exchange by enhancing connectivity as Malaysia welcomes more tourist arrivals from China, he said.
Both sides also reiterated their shared beliefs on the common values of Malaysia Madani and the vision of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind for the mutual benefit of the people and in this regard, the Asian Monetary Fund proposal which was in line with the aspirations of the vision. - Bernama
