Islamabad, Kuala Lumpur reiterate stance on Gaza, Kashmir. PM Shehbaz Sharif expresses support for Pakistan-Malaysia joint ventures. NUST awards honorary PhD degree to PM Anwar Ibrahim.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Malaysia on Thursday agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in multiple areas including trade, investment, defence, and agriculture, besides reiterating their strong positions on regional issues including Gaza and Kashmir.
In a joint press stakeout following their one-on-one meeting and delegation-level talks, both prime ministers told the media that their discussions focused on strengthening the bilateral collaboration in multiple areas of mutual interest as well as regional and international issues including Palestine and Kashmir.
As part of the efforts to boost bilateral trade, both leaders agreed that Pakistan would export Halal meat worth $200 million per annum and 100,000 metric tonnes of Basmati Rice to Malaysia.
Total trade between Malaysia and Pakistan stood at USD 1.4 billion with the trade goods included palm oil, apparel, textiles, chemical and chemical-based products, and electrics and electronic products. Among South Asian countries, Pakistan is Malaysia’s third-largest trading partner.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Shehbaz told the media that besides discussing the export of Pakistan’s Basmati Rice, two sides also discussed the possibilities of exporting Halal meat from Pakistan to Malaysia worth $200 million per annum, and assured that his country would make no compromise on the quality.
He said the Malaysian PM had also assured to address the discrepancies in the import of Pakistan’s rice into his country.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that they had a ‘wonderful’ meeting to discuss the enhancement of trade and investment, besides exploring avenues of further cooperation in defence, tourism, agriculture, green energy, skilled labour and youth empowerment.
He said both sides were unanimous in believing that the two countries would collectively find new heights in trade and investment cooperation for a bright future for two nations.
Assuring his cooperation to further enhance Pakistan-Malaysia defence and security cooperation, he said that thousands of Pakistani students were currently studying in Malaysia to help strengthen the people-to-people contacts.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that Malaysia’s development should be emulated as a role model for all Muslim countries where foreign direct investment and exports were on the increase.
He said that both sides also discussed the “heart-wrenching” and “heart-breaking” situation of Gaza where innocent children, men and women were being killed.
He said under the unparalleled genocide and carnage by Israeli forces, the cities were being demolished in Gaza and both sides stressed the immediate ceasefire.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that both sides discussed the Kashmir issue where people were being denied their right to self-determination despite rendering huge sacrifices for the last several decades. Thousands of Kashmiris have been martyred, many were in detention in 3rd class jails and made subject to severe punishment. He expressed the hope that the Kashmiris would soon get their right to self-determination in light of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that both sides had agreed on a number of matters and follow-up discussions would be held in the upcoming joint commission meeting in Kuala Lumpur this month to ensure swift implementation of the decisions.
He assured that the Malaysian trade office would be opened in Karachi soon to strengthen economic collaboration between the two countries.
He said Malaysia was seeking more skilled labour in various sectors including IT, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors and Pakistan could also be a source for such skilled labour.
The Malaysian PM said that Malaysia had agreed to import 100,000 tonnes of Basmati Rice from Pakistan.
Anwar Ibrahim appreciated Prime Minister Shehbaz’s address at the United Nations General Assembly in which he had pleaded the case of Gaza effectively. He also appreciated Pakistan’s strong stance against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and escalation of hostilities on the Middle East by Israel.
He said the ongoing aggression in Gaza and Lebanon was not a war between the two countries rather it was a disregard for international order and also questioned the inaction of the global community.
Prime Minister Ibrahim reiterated that Malaysia was committed to the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and believed in an amicable resolution of the dispute.
The two prime ministers also witnessed exchange of signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and a Letter of Cooperation. This included MoU between Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and Malaysia External Trade Development Cooperation (MATRADE) on trade cooperation, and MoU for cooperation in Halal trade between Pakistan-Malaysia Business Council (PMBC) of Pakistan and Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council (MPBC) of Malaysia.
A Letter of Cooperation between Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was also signed.
Later, Prime Minister Ibrahim also presented the works of renowned poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal which were translated into Bahasa Melayu. He also presented an Urdu copy of his book titled “The Asian Renaissance.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Ibrahim, who landed here on Wednesday for a three-day state visit - the first as prime minister - along with a high-level delegation, arrived at the PM House where he was given the guard of honour and he also planted a sapling in the PM House’s lawn, before meeting his counterpart Shehbaz Sharif.
The National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) awarded an honorary Ph.D. degree to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim who is an ardent admirer of Dr. Muhammad Iqbal.
In his keynote address, Prime Minister Ibrahim noted that the works of Allama Iqbal especially in Shikwa, Jawab-e-Shikwa, Israr-e-Khudi and Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, was a gift to the young generations of both Pakistan and Malaysia as these would give them purpose in life.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said all possible support will be extended to the business community of Pakistan and Malaysia to promote joint ventures in multiple fields, including halal meat, information technology, electric vehicles, and semiconductors.
He was addressing the Malaysia-Pakistan High Level Business Dialogue, along with Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Islamabad.
Shehbaz Sharif encouraged the Pakistani business people to come forward, accept the challenge and take advantage of the huge trade potential of the two countries.
In his remarks, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim said over 30 delegations from Malaysia have joined the occasion, showing their serious interest in business opportunities in Pakistan. He said a trade office of Malaysia is being opened in Karachi from next month, which shows his country’s seriousness to enhance trade and investment with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and Malaysia on Thursday pledged to strengthen bilateral cooperation in trade, economy, banking, food technology, and agriculture while also agreeing to work together on shared interests.
This was discussed during a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, Senator Sherry Rehman, and senior government officials also attended the meeting.
Welcoming the Malaysian prime minister, the president said that Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Malaysia and was committed to further enhance bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.
He added that the visit of the Malaysian prime minister would further boost bilateral cooperation between the two brotherly countries.
He expressed concern over the current situation in Gaza and called on the international community to take measures to prevent Israel from committing genocide and atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Malaysian prime minister apprised the president that he held a very good discussion with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.