TOKYO: Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has proposed that Malaysia-Japan ties be upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) when he met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Friday.
In the meeting held at Kantei, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office, Ismail was accompanied by a high-profile delegation and had bilateral talks with Kishida to strengthen the long-established relationship between the two countries.
At the-meeting Ismail said: “We wish to propose upgrading our ties from strategic partnership to comprehensive strategic partnership.”
According to Bernama, Malaysia-Japan ties had been upgraded from enhanced partnership to strategic partnership in 2015.
Kishida was playing host to Malaysian Prime Minister for the first time after he was appointed as Prime Minister of Japan in October 2021.
The meeting with Kishida was in conjunction with Ismail’s working visit to Japan where he had participated in the 27th International Conference on the Future of Asia, an annual gathering of political , economic and industry leaders from Asia-Pacific and met with business and corporate figures to attract Japanese investments to Malaysia.
In another development, Ismail said, in his meeting with the President of Japan-Malaysia Economic Association (JAMECA) Tsuyoshi Nagano who is also the Chairman of Tokyo Marine Holdings Inc. and General Secretary of the Kazuto Sasaki earlier on Friday, the association has agreed to help attract more investors from Japan.
“This will help create more working opportunities and reactivate the economy of Malaysia,” Ismail said in his Facebook post, Friday.
In the meeting Ismail said, JAMECA has also mentioned that they will organize the Look East Policy Seminar in August 2022. JAMECA was officially formed in 1977 in Kuala Lumpur aimed at promoting the harmonious economic relationship between Malaysia and Japan.
The Prime Minister added, The “Look East Policy” has started 40 years ago that has made Malaysia amongst the strategic investment destinations for companies especially from Japan and subsequently contributing to the development in various sectors in Malaysia.
Ismail said, from January until March 2022, the total trade between Malaysia and Japan increase by 13.3 per cent amounting RM41.75 billion (USD9.96 billion) compared to RM36.86 (USD9.07 billion) in the same period of 2021.
“In that period, the Malaysian total exports to Japan increase 19.6 per cent amounting RM22.68 billion (USD5.41 billion) compared to RM18.96 (USD4.66 billion) in the same period of 2021. –Malaysia World News
