Malaysia, China Seek Stronger Ties In Higher Education, Tourism

Malaysia and China today agreed to work closely in several areas, especially those relating to higher education, tourism and traditional Chinese medicine.This was among the outcome of talks between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao here today.

"It's a very productive and meaningful meeting and we've achieved broad agreement in pursuant to the joint action plan on strategic cooperation that was signed in 2009," said Najib at a joint media conference with Wen.Wen is on a two-day visit to Malaysia to reciprocate Najib's visit to China in 2009.

This is his second visit to Malaysia after attending the first East Asia Summit and the ninth Asean-China Summit and Asean Plus Three Summit in 2005.Today, Malaysia and China inked a mutual recognition agreement on higher education that will become a catalyst to increasing student exchange between the two countries.

"Premier Wen proposed that next year 100 Malaysian students visit China and 100 Chinese students visit Malaysia. We're in full support of his proposal," said Najib.On tourism, Najib said tourist arrivals from China had been on a very strong upward increase.

Last year, 1.1 million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia, he said, describing it as a promising development for the country.Najib said Wen also agreed with Kuala Lumpur's proposal to establish a centre of excellence for traditional Chinese medicine in Malaysia.

The prime minister said Wen fully supported the proposal, and that the Chinese government would provide all possible assistance to the initiative.Meanwhile, Wen said China had high regard for Malaysia over its role in regional and international affairs.

He said China was ready to enhance communication and coordination with Malaysia to jointly address challenges and uphold their common interests.The Chinese leader said that Malaysia, one of the founding members of Asean, played an active role in promoting East Asia cooperation.

"Malaysia has also made important contributions to the development of China-Asean relations," said Wen."During this visit, we have together laid out the blueprint for the future development of our bilateral ties and further enhanced our commitment for friendship and cooperation between us," he said.

"I believe that through our joint efforts, China-Malaysia relations will be brought to a higher level," he said.Wen also touched on the need for more exchanges between the two countries in culture, education, tourism as well as journalism, to increase mutual understanding between the people of both countries.

Source = bernama