News Room - Business/Economics

Malaysia and China on Monday sealed eight government-to-government memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and agreements in various fields including trade, culture and administration.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang at Perdana Putra here.

Malaysia and China cemented a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, which was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister of China, Wang Yi and Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.

According to Malaysia-China joint statement released in conjunction with Li's official visit, both Malaysia and China agreed to enhance the exchange of friendly visits between law enforcement and security agencies of both countries and continue to hold the law enforcement and security consultations and effectively implement the treaty.

Wang also signed the MoU on quality and safety of Malaysian palm oil to China while Plantation, Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas on behalf of Malaysia.

With the MoU, both sides agreed to further intensify cooperation in the agriculture field and will hold the 5th Agriculture Joint Working Group Meeting.

Also concluded was MoU on cooperation in the fields of registration of market entities and trademarks which was signed by Minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China, Zhang Mao and Malaysia's Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister, Datuk Hamzah Zainudin.

According to the joint statement, Malaysia and China had agreed to work together to support intellectual property (IP) rights-related marketplace activities, to promote the exchange of information and cross-fertilisation of ideas as well as to facilitate IP rights transactions between IP owners and potential partners.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed inked two agreements on enhancing cooperation in production with the Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Xu Shaoshi; and cooperation programme to enhance bilateral trade, economic and investment with the Commerce Minister of China, Gao Hucheng.

The joint statement said both sides realised the huge potential that could be derived from the cooperation in production capacity and high-end equipment manufacturing between both countries, which would be significant to the further growth in bilateral trade and promoting common development.

It said both governments also agreed to continue facilitating the coordinated development of the two countries' industrial twin parks project and jointly explore the opportunities of promoting cooperation in the priority areas such as iron and steel manufacturing, ship building, information communication technology (ICT), power generation and rail transportation.

To facilitate the already vibrant economic and trade cooperation, it said both sides would further enhance bilateral trade, actively encourage and support two-way investment, promote the involvement of the private sector and support cooperation between the small-medium enterprises and service institutions of the two countries as stipulated in the "Five-Year Programme for Economic and Trade Cooperation."

Also concluded were the MoU between Malaysia Port Alliance and China Port Alliance for the establishment of a port alliance.

The MoU was signed by Malaysia's Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and his Chinese counterpart Yang Chuantang.

Other MoUs sealed were on the establishment of the China Cultural Centre in Malaysia and MoU between The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS).