Dr Abdullah Badawi, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, your ministerial colleagues, my ministerial colleagues, Leader of the Opposition, your Excellency, ladies and gentleman. It's with enormous pleasure that I welcome you Sir to this, your official visit to Australia as Malaysia's Prime Minister.
I think it's fair and open and direct to say at the outset that there's been no relationship between two countries in recent years, about whose health there has been more commentary than the relationship between Australia and Malaysia. It's been constantly under the microscope of the commentariat, it's been constantly the subject of conjecture, much of it negative as in the nature of commentary in open democratic societies.
And in reflecting on that in preparing for the Prime Minister's visit to Australia I began to think about the reality of that relationship and two things more than anything else hit me about the reality of the relationship. And the first of them is something with which so many Australians are very familiar and that is the fact that there is no country in the world, either in aggregate numbers or proportionately where the alumni of Australian universities bulks larger than in Malaysia. And this owes a great deal to those who devised one of the greatest pieces of wisdom in Australia's foreign policy, the Colombo Plan, all those years ago not long after World War II.
And something else that perhaps many Australians might not be as aware and that is that as we speak there are two military exercises taking place in our region involving the military personnel of Australia and Malaysia. The reality of course is that the defence relationship between Australia and Malaysia is closer than the defence relationship that this country has with any other nation in the immediate region.
Now those two propositions, or those two facts rather illustrate that underneath the commentary and the pre-occupation with difference there has been a solid super structure to a relationship that has endured over a long period of time. And those links and the people-to-people links between our two countries have always been very strong.
The Prime Minister and I both agreed this morning that if a relationship matters to two countries, inevitably there are going to be some differences on some issues. But more importantly than that, a focus on those things that unite the common interests, or represent the common interest of our two countries should be uppermost in our thoughts. We are part of the region, we are forever together as friends and partners in this region, we have a very strong history, we have a history of helping each other in time of need and I handed the Prime Minister a copy of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's document, 'The History of the Relationship between Australia and Malaysia between 1961 and 1966'. A period of time that saw the emergence of Malaysia as a federation in very difficult circumstances, that saw Australia come to the assistance of Malaysia at the time of confrontation. We also recall of course the years earlier, the contribution that Australians made along with many others during the Malayan emergency of the 1950s.
So it is a very strong and rich relationship. It's one, of course, that's been given modern focus by the joint challenge of terrorism and the links that exist between our two countries at a military and intelligence level are very important responses to the contemporary challenge of terrorism. But there's another equally important response and that is the fact that Malaysia, as in the case of Indonesia, is an exemplar of moderate progressive Islam. A moderate progressive Islam addressing the needs of people, understanding the proud place of Islamic nations in the world, is a very powerful and enduring response to the extremists and the zealots who would seek to play on the disadvantage perceived or otherwise of those who are unhappy with their circumstances in life.
Today our discussions have covered the possibility of developing a Free Trade Agreement. And discussions will commence between Mark Vaile of behalf of Australia and Dr Rafidah on behalf of Malaysia. Two people who know each other well and have traded on matters in their respective portfolios over many years. Mark is no stranger to negotiating free trade agreements on behalf of Australia and his counterpart from Malaysia is, I think, probably the longest-serving trade minister of any nation of our region, perhaps in the world. So I think they will be a good match for each other in those very, very important negotiations. And if they can't resolve it over the negotiating table their joint passion for golf will enable them to resolve it elsewhere.
Those free trade negotiations will build on an already very strong economic relationship, particularly in terms of the heavy Malaysian investment in Australia. I would like to see, and I know the Malaysian Prime Minister would like to see, more Australian students studying in Malaysia, to offer some reciprocation, or perhaps to a greater degree, of the number Malaysian students who are studying in Australia.
And finally can I say that I'm announcing as part of this visit by the Prime Minister the establishment of an Australia-Malaysia Institute to be chaired by the eminent Australian lawyer Michael Abbott QC and this body will bring together younger political leaders, journalists, commentators, academic, businessmen and women who have an interest in a deeper study and reflection on the nature of the relationship between our two countries.
Prime Minister, you come to Australia, you come to Canberra as a friend. You come as somebody who I've got to know very well over a number of years, a period of time as deputy prime minister of your country, and more recently as Prime Minister. Your country is very important to Australia, we have shared a lot of history and I'm sure that we will share much more as the years go by. We welcome you warmly as a friend, as the leader of a country that we value immensely and as the leader of a country that has a very important role to play in partnership with Australia as the years go by. Prime Minister, I invite the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Kim Beazley, to support my remarks,
Thank you.
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