Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
Tarikh/Date : 09/04/97
Tajuk/Title : THE STATE BANQUET HOSTED BY THE
PRIME MINISTER OF ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
OF PAKISTAN
1. On behalf of my delegation, I would like to take
this opportunity to express our sincere thanks and
gratitude, for the very warm welcome and kind hospitality
extended to us since our arrival a few hours ago. I am
very happy and privileged to visit your beautiful capital
city of Islamabad again in the midst of the Golden
Jubilee Celebrations of your independence. I hope my
brief visit will contribute towards strengthening the
close and friendly ties that bind our two brotherly
countries together.
2. May I take this opportunity to congratulate you,
Mian Shaib, and your government, for hosting the recent
Extraordinary Summit of OIC to commemorate your Golden
Jubilee celebrations. Under your able Chairmanship, the
Summit was able to give renewed impetus to cooperation
and set the direction for the Islamic Ummah in the next
millennium. Malaysia stand ready to contribute towards
making the OIC a truly effective organisation able to
meet the challenges for the betterment of our Muslim
Ummah.
3. Bilateral relations between our two countries have
over the years been characterised by the warmth and
closeness befitting two Islamic countries. Our meeting
this afternoon is a reaffirmation of these close ties,
setting the stage for a more active and meaningful
cooperation for our two countries.
4. Malaysia being a small and open economy, notes with
great interest your recent economic revival programme
which among others, seeks to liberalise trade and
investment in consonance with the aims and objectives of
the WTO. This trade and investment creation strategy
would, I believe, create opportunities paving the way for
greater Malaysian investments in Pakistan. Malaysia -
Pakistan joint ventures would contribute towards bringing
about a more desirable balance in the area of trade and
payments between our two countries.
5. To date, I understand nine Malaysian companies have
invested in Pakistan in oil gas exploration, port storage
and bulking installation, telecommunications, and type-
related industry. I would like to take this opportunity
to reiterate our interest and readiness to participate in
other sectors of development in Pakistan such as
infrastructure development, housing and construction,
finance and banking as well as electronics and computers.
Both countries stand to reap mutually beneficial rewards
by developing a partnership between us, by drawing upon
each other's comparative advantage. There are areas
where Pakistan clearly has the experience and know-how
which could be combined with the strength which Malaysia
has developed over the years to undertake joint-ventures
on a bilateral basis or in concert with third parties.
Both countries are well-placed to be the gateways for
each other in their respective regions. In this regard,
Malaysia can constitute the gateway for Pakistani
products in the East Asia region, while Pakistan could be
the gateway for Malaysia manufactured goods in the sub-
continent and the CIS states.
6. Your Excellency, I am glad to note that Pakistan has
become the largest importer of Malaysia palm oil and palm
oil products. In 1996, Pakistan imported approximately
about 1.16 million tonnes or roughly 84.9 percent of
Malaysia's total export to Pakistan. I hope you will not
only continue to import palm oil from Malaysia, but that
we can move ahead together to create more value-added
products from palm oil for exports to the emerging
markets of the Central Asian Republics.
7. On technical cooperation, there is much that we can
still do to enhance our cooperation in this area. Since
1982, 122 Pakistanis participated in various training
schemes under the Malaysian Technical Cooperations
Programme (MTCP). Pakistan has also made its
contribution in this regard by providing manpower for the
various sectors in Malaysia particularly in construction,
manufacturing and plantations. Malaysia still faces a
shortage of medical officers and nurses, and we will
continue to welcome medical officers and specialists as
well as nurses from Pakistan. At the same time we would
also welcome Pakistan's assistance in our manpower
training programme by making available more places in
your universities and other institutions of higher
learning, especially for courses in medicine and
engineering.
8. Internationally, our common membership of the UN,
OIC, NAM, Commonwealth, among others, has enabled us to
contribute towards bringing about peace and stability in
many parts of the world, in particular in Bosnia-
Herzegovina and Somalia. We must continue to work and
cooperate closely to realise our common shared
aspirations for the betterment of our peoples and the
Muslim Ummah.
9. Malaysia welcomes Pakistan's participation in the
sectoral dialogue relations with ASEAN in the fields of
trade and investment, tourism, human resource
development, prevention of trafficking of drugs and
narcotics, science and technology and environment.
Malaysia would support Pakistan's initiative in making
this sectoral dialogue meaningful and substantive.
10. May I take this opportunity to extend on behalf of
the government and people of Malaysia and on my own
behalf, our best wishes for the continued good health and
well being of Your Excellency and for the continued
development, success and prosperity of the people of
Pakistan, insya-Allah.
11. In conclusion, may I once again express my sincere
gratitude and appreciation to you and your government for
the warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements made
for this short visit.
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