Relations between China and Malaysia have gained momentum and
bilateral cooperation has born fruits in political, economic and
trade, cultural and educational fields, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
said on Monday.
Wen proposed four priority areas to strengthen the friendly
bilateral relationship between China and Malaysia while meeting
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was attending
the commemorative summit marking the 15th anniversary of
China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations.
The four areas include: to improve exchanges of high-level
visits and increase political mutual trust, to launch a feasibility
study on a closer economic partnership aimed at pushing forward the
bilateral economic and trade cooperation comprehensively, to
strengthen energy cooperation, and to reinforce joint efforts to
combat transnational crime.
Badawi said Malaysia had always attached great importance to its
friendly relationship with China, and that it was ready to expand
the Malaysia-China cooperation of mutual benefit.
Energy sector is one of the key areas of the Malaysia-China
cooperation, and Malaysia welcomes the signing of a contract by a
Shanghai company to buy Malaysia's liquefied natural gas (LNG),
Badawi added.
According to the contract signed by the Shanghai LNG Co. Ltd and
a subsidiary of Petronas, Malaysia's national petroleum
corporation, a Shanghai terminal is to begin receiving LNG supply
from Malaysia as of 2009 with an annual delivery no less than 1.1
million tons.
The contract, with the term of 25 years, is so far the largest
trade contract between the two countries.
Badawi also hoped that more Chinese enterprises would invest in
Malaysia's infrastructure construction, such as building
bridges.
Badawi arrived in Nanning, capital city of China's Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Sunday to attend the China-ASEAN
summit.
(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)