Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has justified the multimillion ringgit Giant Panda Conservation Centre at Zoo Negara, saying it is a "very reasonable" expenditure in view of the booming trade between Malaysia and China.

"If seen from a bigger context, in view of the trade relations between Malaysia and China has exceeded US$106 billion, surely spending on a symbol like this conservation centre is very reasonable especially when we can encourage many people to visit Zoo Negara, including foreign tourists," he said.

He added that those who took issue with the RM25 million cost of the centre have probably taken on a narrow view of the pandas' presence in Malaysia.

Najib said this in his speech officially opening the conservation centre today.

While many countries are vying to host the pandas, China has only approved 23 pandas across 14 countries to be outside of China, showing the close friendship between China and Malaysia, he said.

The pandas originally named Fu Wa and Feng Yi are currently on a 10-year loan to Malaysia, as part of the 40-year anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China.

While critics charged that the expense could have been spent on conserving endangered flora and fauna that are native to Malaysia, Najib said they are not forgotten either.

For example, he said, he had approved RM5 million so far over two years for orang utan conservation in Bukit Merah, Perak.

"These are a part of the conservation work that we do, and the government is prepared to do more to save species that threatened in Malaysia,  such as tigers, rhinoceros, elephants and gaurs," he said.

In order to allow more people to see the pandas,  Najib announced that entry to the conservation centre is free for children,  senior citizens, orphans in welfare homes and the disabled, for 30 days beginning June 28.

Ticket prices for the conservation centre alone are otherwise RM20 for Malaysian adults and RM10 for children.

As for the pandas, Najib has announced the results of a competition to rename the pandas during today's ceremony.

Fu Wa, the male panda, has been named Xing Xing (prosperity) while the female panda Feng Yi has been named Liang Liang (pretty).

"I know they have a Chinese name, but we also want to give them a Malaysian name, especially when they will be here for the next 10 years," he said.