Pakistan and Malaysia on Monday vowed to deepen bilateral cooperation across various sectors, including trade, education, Halal certification and anti-corruption efforts, with Malaysia announcing import of $200 million worth of Halal meat from Pakistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim, following their “very productive” discussions at their meeting and delegation-level talks, told a joint press stakeout that their deliberations encompassed bilateral cooperation as well as international issues, including Israel’s oppression in Gaza.
PM Shehbaz, who is on his first visit to Malaysia, said that Pakistan desired to join hands with Malaysia to learn from its expertise and pursue joint ventures and mutually beneficial projects as both sides could collaborate in areas of agriculture, IT, and vocational and skills training, where Pakistan was doing “wonderfully well.”
Expressing gratitude to the Malaysian government for the “exceptionally warm” welcome to him and his delegation, the prime minister said that he would leave Malaysia, my second home, for Pakistan on Tuesday as far more informed and inspired by Malaysia’s development journey, which Pakistan, a 240 million nation, also wanted to achieve.
He said that Pakistan would forge a great partnership with Malaysia to achieve shared goals as the country had infinite blessings from Allah, including minerals, water, brilliant minds, fertile land, and the will to succeed.
In his remarks, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that over the years, Pakistan and Malaysia had established strong ties in education, defense, and other fields, while continuously expanding economic cooperation.
He said in this era of geopolitical uncertainties, both sides saw immense potential to deepen partnership in defense, agriculture, digital technologies, energy, and emerging fields.
He said to strengthen bilateral economic ties, Malaysia would facilitate Pakistan’s interest to export meat to Malaysia and would do whatever was necessary to achieve these goals. On regional issues, he emphasized that peace between Pakistan and India was vital for regional stability.
Appreciating Pakistan’s stance on Gaza, Anwar Ibrahim said both countries reaffirmed call for concrete action to end Gaza suffering.
Later, the two sides signed six accords to strengthen bilateral cooperation covering different areas including education, Halal certification, tourism and combating corruption.
The pre-signed documents were exchanged at a ceremony held at Perdana Putra Complex – Office of the Malaysian Prime Minister – during the three-day official visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Malaysia, at the invitation of his Malay counterpart Anwar Ibrahim.
Both the leaders witnessed the ceremony held after their meeting as well as the delegation level talks.