Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : SERI PERDANA, PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA
Tarikh/Date : 10-01-2002
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL DINNER IN HONOUR OF
H.E. JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI PRIME
MINISTER OF JAPAN
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
Allow me first of all to extend a warm welcome to
Your Excellency and members of your delegation to
Malaysia and to our new administrative capital,
Putrajaya. I am glad to be able to reciprocate the
gracious hospitality accorded to me and my delegation
on my visit to Tokyo last June. I hope that your stay
in Malaysia although brief will provide you with a
glimpse of Malaysia and the efforts being made by
Malaysians to develop the country.
2. I am happy to note the close and cooperative ties
that exist between our two countries. The frequent
exchanges of high-level visits, the substantial growth
in trade, investment, technical cooperation and the
expansion of our collaboration into new areas such as
Information Technology are testimonies to the healthy
and dynamic partnership that we have nurtured over the
years. Your visit today and the discussions we had
this afternoon will no doubt expand further the scope
and depth of our bilateral cooperation.
3. We have always regarded Japan to be an active
partner in the economic development of Malaysia and we
are confident that it will remain so. Japanese
investors have continued to contribute to the
development of our manufacturing industry. Japanese
technology has facilitated our industrial development
and Japanese institutions of higher learning have
assisted in the training of our human resources.
Japan's financial assistance has also allowed us to
proceed with our financial development particularly
during the crisis of 1997. Malaysia truly appreciates
your country's contribution and hopes that Japan will
continue to be an active and reliable partner in
development.
4. In terms of Foreign Direct Investments, Japan
continues to be an important source for Malaysia. For
the period January-October 2001, a total of 134
projects with capital investments of RM3.05 billion
were approved. Japan remains the second biggest foreign
investor after the United States. However the
involvement of Japanese companies in Malaysia's
Multimedia Super Corridor, the country's R&D hub for
IT, has been somewhat limited. We hope the level of
investments will improve.
5. As for trade, Japan is also Malaysia's second most
important trading partner accounting for about 17
percent of Malaysia's global trade. Last year, 21
percent of Malaysia's imports came from Japan and 13
percent of our exports went to Japan. We hope that
more Malaysian products could find greater access into
the Japanese market. We are told that Japanese
tourists fear coming to Malaysia because it is a Muslim
country. We have been a Muslim country since
independence and Japanese businessmen and tourists have
been coming here. We have not changed one bit. There
is no ground for this fear. The Japanese press which
is familiar with Malaysia should clear this
misunderstanding.
6. In 1982 Malaysia adopted the "Look East Policy" as
part of our development strategy. We were convinced
that Japan's phenomenal rise as an industrialised
nation after the Second World War, was due in part to
the work ethics and values adopted by the Japanese
workforce. Eager to emulate Japan's success, Malaysia
decided to send students and trainees to Japan. Since
then, more than 13,000 Malaysians have obtained their
tertiary education as well as benefited from advanced
training under the policy. We still believe that the
Look East Policy is relevant. We trust that Japan
would be ready to provide more concessions and places
for Malaysian students and trainees in Japanese
universities and technical institutions in the future.
7. Malaysia is very concerned to see the economic
recovery of Japan. We know of Your Excellency's
determination to implement the economic structural
reforms aimed at revitalising the economy. We hope
your plan will succeed given the longer time that you
will get to see it through.
8. At the regional and international level both our
countries are active participants and closely
cooperating in many important forums such as ASEAN+3,
ARF and ASEM. Malaysia is especially pleased that Japan
has continuously taken a great interest in ASEAN
affairs and rendered her assistance in numerous
programmes including trade and investment, human
resource development and information technology.
9. In the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks
in the US, the international community has been
grappling with how to stop terrorist attacks. Malaysia
believes that even if we wipe out the Talibans, there
is no guarantee there will be no future acts of
terrorism. The only way is to examine the root causes
and remove them. There is no doubt that the
Palestinian issue needs to be resolved if we want to
stop others from taking the law into their own hands
and deciding to criminally terrorise the world. World
opinion must be brought to bear on this issue if we are
serious about ending terrorism.
10. Let me take this opportunity to again express my
sincere appreciation to you for making this official
visit to Malaysia. I hope that your short visit here
will be a memorable one to you and members of your
delegation.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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