Prime Minister Najib Razak said tomorrow’s meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President-elect Trump (in the US) was very much awaited by all TPPA countries.
“Hopefully, the strategic importance of the TPPA will be recognised by the incoming administration as well as by all participating countries,” Najib said during a joint press conference with Abe here today.
Najib said Putrajaya and Tokyo had passed the resolutions in their respective Parliaments with the view of participating in the TPPA.
“It is clear Malaysia wants to go ahead with the TPPA, and hopes that the TPPA agreement will come into force,” said Najib, who is on his second day of a three-day working visit to Japan.
Earlier, Najib and Abe led their respective delegations for a bilateral meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office here.
Abe said both countries would carry on with their domestic procedures respectively for their early entry into the TPPA.
Besides Japan and Malaysia, the TPPA includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, US and Vietnam.
The idea, which was mooted by outgoing US President Barack Obama, will involve a free trade area covering about 40 per cent of the global economic power.
However, Trump, during his election campaign, was reported to have called for the trade deal to be aborted.
On the Malaysia-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project, Najib said Malaysia and Singapore were on track to sign the joint project agreement early next month.
He said international tenders for the project would be called by the fourth quarter of 2017.
The HSR project, reportedly estimated to cost between RM60 billion and RM65 billion, will link Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in 90 minutes and has attracted the interest of suppliers from China, Japan, South Korea and Europe among others.
Najib said all issues related to the joint project agreement have “more or less” been settled.
“I have reassured Prime Minister Abe that the process to arrive at the final decision (on the project agreement) will be done in a transparent and objective manner,” said Najib.
On other matters, Najib said Malaysia had offered its technical expertise to Japan in the development of the halal industry in the country as it was wooing more Muslim tourists.
The two leaders earlier witnessed the exchange of notes between Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Makio Miyagawa, and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Director-General Ahmad Puzi Kahar, concerning the grants of two Japanese coast guard vessels to the MMEA.
Najib and Abe also witnessed the exchange of a memorandum of cooperation between the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and Malaysian Investment Development Authority, and also Jetro and Malaysia External Trade Corporation at the Prime Minister’s Office here.
Meanwhile, the prime minister’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, had a separate meeting with Akie Abe, wife of the Japanese prime minister here.
Najib and Rosmah later attended a dinner hosted by Abe and wife at the official residence of the prime minister here.