Oleh/By  	:	DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue	:	SEOUL, KOREA
Tarikh/Date	:	23-05-2002
Tajuk/Title 	:	THE STATE BANQUET HOSTED BY HIS 
			EXCELLENCY MR KIM DAE-JUNG 
			PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 
			OF KOREA
Versi 		:	ENGLISH
Penyampai	:  	PM 
		    

       On  behalf of myself and members of my delegation,
   I would like to express my deepest appreciation for the
   very warm welcome and generous hospitality extended  to
   us  since our arrival in Seoul. We are delighted to  be
   here  and to see for ourselves the developments of this
   beautiful city since our last visit in   October  2000.
   I  also  sincerely  feel privileged  to  have  had  the
   opportunity  of personally meeting and discussing  with
   you   various  bilateral,  regional  and  international
   issues of mutual interest this morning. I believe  that
   such   exchanges  would  foster  better   rapport   and
   understanding between our two countries.
   
   2.    Malaysia  is committed to improving  our  cordial
   ties  with  the  Republic of Korea. In fact,  bilateral
   relations  have grown steadily since the  establishment
   of  diplomatic  ties  in  1960. On-going  exchanges  of
   visits  at  the highest level further strengthened  the
   bonds  of  friendship between the Governments  and  the
   peoples  of  Malaysia and the Republic  of  Korea.  The
   State  Visit  of  the  late King,  His  Majesty  Sultan
   Salahuddin  Abdul Aziz Shah to your country  last  year
   certainly  brought much goodwill and enhanced bilateral
   ties.  At  the  same time, Malaysia  will  continue  to
   pursue  cooperation in traditional areas such as trade,
   investments   and  education,  while  endeavouring   to
   intensify  collaboration  in  other  sectors  such   as
   development  of human resources, culture,  tourism  and
   information technology.
   
   3.     I  am  very pleased indeed that your country  is
   presently Malaysia's 8th largest global trading partner
   and  our  9th largest export market.  However, Malaysia
   hopes to diversify its exports to Republic of Korea  to
   include  not  only  commodities but  also  manufactured
   goods.   As such, we would welcome more access for  our
   exports to the Korean market.
   
   4.    We  also value investments from South  Korea  and
   note  that last year the Republic of Korea was the  6th
   largest foreign investor in the Malaysian manufacturing
   sector.  During the 1996 to 2001 period, a total of  92
   projects  from South Korea with capital investments  of
   US$  1.0  billion  were approved.   Like  South  Korea,
   Malaysia  too  welcomes foreign direct  investments  to
   promote   the   development   of   her   manufacturing,
   information  technology and multimedia industries.   We
   acknowledge that South Korea has achieved much  success
   in  the hi-tech and I.T. area and we hope to learn from
   and  collaborate with Korea.  The continuing  political
   and   economic  stability  of  Malaysia,  and   to   my
   Government's   commitment  to  providing   a   positive
   business  environment for all investors  without  doubt
   makes Malaysia a most promising and suitable venue  for
   your investments.
   
   5.    In 1983, Malaysia expanded her `Look East Policy'
   with  Japan  to  include the Republic of Korea,  noting
   that  the work ethics of the Korean people were  values
   we  desired  to  emulate in order  to  attain  economic
   progress.   Since then, 1,182 Malaysians have undergone
   training  in  various programmes  in  the  Republic  of
   Korea.  Additionally, 500 students have pursued studies
   at  Korean  institutions of higher learning  under  the
   technical  training programme. The `Look  East  Policy'
   therefore  is  a  very  important  component   of   our
   relations  with  the Republic of Korea  and  these  two
   programmes  have  served very well in  our  efforts  to
   develop  our human resources.  We are grateful  to  the
   Korean Government for the support and trust that  Korea
   would  continue  to  accept  more  Malaysians  in   her
   Universities and institutions of higher learning in the
   future.
   
   6.   Over the years the Republic of Korea has become an
   important  partner for Malaysia in the Northeast  Asian
   Region.   Both our countries have   overcome  the  1997
   economic and financial crisis with policy measures that
   were  appropriate and suitable to our problems.   Under
   your  able  leadership, Korea is now  on  the  road  to
   recovery based on sustainable growth and sound economic
   policies.   As  we have learnt from that  episode,  all
   countries in the East Asian region should work together
   and reform the international financial architecture  to
   ensure that our economies can deal effectively with the
   challenges of globalisation and the volatile  financial
   flows.
   
   7.    The close collaboration between our two countries
   also  flows  into  other  regional  spheres  where   we
   actively  interact  and play major roles  in  important
   forums  such  as ASEAN + 3, ARF and ASEM.  It  is  most
   heartening  to  note  that the Republic  of  Korea  has
   placed  much  emphasis on her relationship  with  ASEAN
   member   countries.   As  such,  the   relations   have
   broadened  and strengthened since the establishment  of
   Dialogue Partnership in 1991.  The scope of cooperation
   has  widened  and  currently  covers  many  spheres  of
   interest,  including  trade,  investment,  finance  and
   human resources development.
   
   8.   I would  also  like  to congratulate  you for your
   effort   in trying  to promote  reconciliation with the
   Democratic  People's  Republic of Korea following  your
   successful  Summit Meeting with Mr. Kim Jong-il in June
   2000.
   
   9.    Globally, a major concern that remains with us in
   the  aftermath  of  the September  11  tragedy  is  the
   challenge  of  terrorism. The fight  against  terrorism
   while remaining a priority for all of us should not  be
   expanded  to include other agendas.  There is  also  an
   urgent  need  to have a clear definition of  terrorism.
   This  would enable us to distinguish between a  genuine
   freedom  fighter  and the one who  is  motivated  by  a
   misplaced  sense  of injustice or grievance.   In  this
   regard,  Malaysia  would like to  again  urge  that  an
   international  conference on terrorism be  convened  as
   soon  as possible. Malaysia hopes that the Republic  of
   Korea   could  lend  its  voice  and  support  such   a
   conference  so  that  the subject  could  be  discussed
   comprehensively  to  establish  the   best   means   to
   eliminate and resolve this terrible menace.
   
   10.    I  am  greatly  impressed  with  your  country's
   achievements  and  attribute  them  to  your  admirable
   leadership.  The kind and warm welcome extended  to  my
   delegation and I by Your Excellency and Madam Lee  will
   always  bring back fond memories of our stay in  Korea.
   Please  accept  our heartfelt thanks for  the  generous
   hospitality  and hard work that has made this  visit  a
   success.

   Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri