PRIME MINISTER NAJIB:
First of all, I’d like to very warmly welcome Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to Malaysia, this year attending, as you know, the ASEAN and East Asia Summit.
We’re taking advantage of his presence to have our first bilateral meeting. The meeting was very productive. We discussed a lot of issues. We don’t have immediate problems between our two countries. Relations between Malaysia and Australia is on a very strong footing and there’s a lot of opportunity for us to deepen and enhance that relationship which has been a very important relationship over the years. In fact, this book which we will be signing today will give us a very good glimpse of the relationship that has endured for so long.
In the traditional areas, of course – education, defence, economics, culture, sports – many things that have made us two countries that share a lot of common bond, a common interest to see not only that relationship get stronger and deeper, but also a world in which continues to be peaceful and stable. So, we have a strong commitment, friendship of Australia and shared values and shared vision between our two countries.
So, therefore, it is only logical for us now to upgrade that relationship to be one of a strategic partnership and that is the major decision that we are announcing today – the elevation of the Malaysia-Australia relationship to be one of a strategic partnership. So that will begin a new chapter, but a chapter which we are very familiar with in terms of friendship, in terms of the people to people relationship. Many Malaysians have been educated in Australia and of course now we have Australians now part of the New Colombo Plan being educated in Malaysia which I think is a wonderful development, understanding both cultures I think would certainly provide a very strong basis for us to understand that relationship goes beyond government to government business. After all, the two peoples must feel and like to be with one another.
So, once again, thank you Prime Minister for being with us and I congratulated Mr Turnbull on his appointment as Prime Minister and I look forward to working very closely with him.
PRIME MINISTER TURNBULL:
Thank you very much, Prime Minister. I’m delighted to be in Malaysia and I want to join Prime Minister Najib in announcing our strategic partnership between Australia and Malaysia. And, as you said Prime Minister, this does take our relationship to an even higher level – a very strong relationship that is built on people to people ties, on trade, on education, on defence.
Right across the board our cooperation on counter terrorism for example has never been stronger and I want to acknowledge, Prime Minister, the very strong leadership you have been giving in the battle against terrorism, the leadership you’ve shown as the leader of a large Muslim country has been noted right around the world and I commend you, as I did last night, on your very fine speech here in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
We discussed in the course of our meeting the tragic loss of MH370 and of course followed by the shocking shooting down of MH17. And we are working together to find out, find the location of MH370. Both Malaysia and Australia are cooperating in that endeavour. It’s a very large ocean of course and the search is taking time and we were both very pleased to see a contribution of a ship plus $20 million from the Chinese government yesterday – Premier Li Keqiang made that commitment. That was very helpful.
This strategic partnership will bring our countries together closer as we have said. It will mean that our foreign ministers will meet regularly every year, backed up by closer discussions between senior officials from defence, foreign affairs and other agencies. Each country has a lot to learn from each other. All of us are grappling with similar problems. Each of us are dealing with them in different ways and we can learn from each other’s experiences.
The Prime Minister referred to the great educational ties between Australia and Malaysia and I want to acknowledge our Foreign Minister Julie Bishop for her vision in establishing the New Colombo Plan that now has several hundred Australians studying here in Malaysia and we met some of them last night at the High Commission. Their enthusiasm, Prime Minister, to study in your country was marked and it was great to see the pro vice-chancellors of the Australian university campuses here – Swinburne, Curtin and Monash – and there are 20,000 Malaysians studying at those campuses towards Australian degrees and another 22,000 studying in Australia. And 300,000 Malaysians have secured degrees from Australian universities. So, we are very close indeed.
Now, this book celebrating 60 years which not only features the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister’s father, showing the great depth of his family’s leadership in Australia is one that I think we should both sign and we can perhaps exchange a copy and treasure it on our bookcases.
Ends