Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak this morning held a bilateral meeting with Australian premier Malcolm Turnbull.

The meeting, which lasted about 30 minutes, took place at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Sydney ahead of the two-day Asean-Australia Special Summit 2018 that will start in the afternoon.

Among others, both leaders discussed issues on defence, education, trade and investment cooperation as well as regional cooperation in countering terrorism.

Also present were Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and his counterpart Julie Bishop.

Najib said he is confident that his visit to Australia will enhance the Asean-Australia and Malaysia-Australia bilateral relations.

“I have just met with Turnbull, during which several bilateral issued were discussed, and we both have taken note that Malaysia-Australia bilateral trade had increased by 23.7 percent to almost RM54 billion in 2017.

“So as the investment between Australia and Malaysia. In fact, Malaysia’s investment to Australia is bigger than from Australia to Malaysia and this includes Petronas’ LNG plant worth US$ 5 billion,” he said in his Facebook Live broadcast today.

Apart from that, Najib said the existing cooperation in education sector between the two countries remained important as approximately 26,000 Malaysian students were pursuing their education in Australia.

Najib said Australia had also become a popular destination among Malaysian tourists with about 300,000 Malaysians visited the country last year.

“There are also places and restaurants owned by Malaysians here (in Australia) and this proved the close people-to-people ties between Malaysia and Australia,” he said.

Najib’s meeting with Turnbull, which lasted 30 minutes, took place at the Sydney International Convention Centre (ICC) ahead of the two day Asean-Australia Special Summit 2018 beginning this afternoon.

Prevention of crime

Najib said the special summit, which is the first in its series, indicated that as an organisation and as a region, Asean was getting more and more recognition from non-member countries.

“I will be given the honour to represent Asean at the closing segment of the conference on the prevention of crime between Asean and Australia.

“I’m confident and strongly believe that the special summit and my visit and discussions with Australian leaders will enhance the Malaysia-Australia and Asean-Australia bilateral relations.

Najib is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the closing segment of the Counter-Terrorism Conference on the first day of the summit.

Najib is the only Asean leader invited to deliver a speech at the closing segment of the conference. The other leader to address the conference will be Turnbull.

The Asean-Australia Special Summit 2018 is organised to discuss the future direction and cooperation between Asean and Australia.

Besides that, the special summit is also organised to commemorate the elevation of Asean-Australia relations to a strategic partnership.

The Asean-Australia Special Summit will comprise three sessions, namely the Asean-Australia Leader’s Summit, the Asean-Australia Businesss Summit and the Asean-Australia Counter-Terrorism Conference.

This is the first time that Australia is hosting a summit with all Asean leaders.

- Bernama