Relations between China and Malaysia have gained momentum and bilateral cooperation has born fruits in political, economic and trade, cultural and educational fields, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday.

 

Wen proposed four priority areas to strengthen the friendly bilateral relationship between China and Malaysia while meeting Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was attending the commemorative summit marking the 15th anniversary of China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations.

 

The four areas include: to improve exchanges of high-level visits and increase political mutual trust, to launch a feasibility study on a closer economic partnership aimed at pushing forward the bilateral economic and trade cooperation comprehensively, to strengthen energy cooperation, and to reinforce joint efforts to combat transnational crime.

 

Badawi said Malaysia had always attached great importance to its friendly relationship with China, and that it was ready to expand the Malaysia-China cooperation of mutual benefit.

 

Energy sector is one of the key areas of the Malaysia-China cooperation, and Malaysia welcomes the signing of a contract by a Shanghai company to buy Malaysia's liquefied natural gas (LNG), Badawi added.

 

According to the contract signed by the Shanghai LNG Co. Ltd and a subsidiary of Petronas, Malaysia's national petroleum corporation, a Shanghai terminal is to begin receiving LNG supply from Malaysia as of 2009 with an annual delivery no less than 1.1 million tons.

 

The contract, with the term of 25 years, is so far the largest trade contract between the two countries.

 

Badawi also hoped that more Chinese enterprises would invest in Malaysia's infrastructure construction, such as building bridges.

 

Badawi arrived in Nanning, capital city of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Sunday to attend the China-ASEAN summit.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)