Japan will assist Malaysia in rejuvenating and upgrading the Look East policy to bolster bilateral cooperation and strengthen business competitiveness for both countries, heard a joint press conference of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Malaysian counterpart Mahatir Mohamad in Tokyo on 12 June.

Malaysian PM Mahatir Mohamad (Photo: thestar.com.my)

Japan will help the Southeast Asian nation’s growth going forward, particularly in elevating the bilateral relationship to a new level, Abe said.

Both sides will set up win-win relations, which help enhance competitive capacity of Japanese firms operating in Malaysia, he noticed, adding that the new policy will promote investment and expand opportunities and space for Malaysian nationals to set up business in both Malaysia and Japan.

The upgrade in the policy will include deeper exchanges in education, human resources development and acceleration of science and technology transfer, he stressed.

Mahatir Mohamad, for his part, stated that education, training and investment are among the areas that Malaysia and Japan can benefit from working closely with each other.

He expressed his delight at Japan’s support for the Look East policy and hoped that Malaysia will benefit from closer cooperation between the two nations as part of the policy.

The Malaysian leader wished that Japanese universities will open their branches in his country.

He also said that Abe had agreed to study Malaysia’s credit request to help the country resolve financial problems.

“The resolution of all the debt problems would enable Malaysia to once again be a good market for Japan and Japanese investment”, Bernama quoted Mahatir Mohamad as saying.

The principal goal of the Look East policy, introduced by Mahatir Mohamad in 1982, was to shift the focus of relation from the West to the new rising Asian countries, especially Japan, and help drive industrialisation in Malaysia.

(Source: VNA)