BY ANSAR M BHATTI
Proton X70SUV – a gift from my Prime Minister to the Prime Minister of Pakistan delivered
ISLAMABAD, DEC 16 (DNA) -, Ikram Mohammad Ibrahim High Commissioner of Malaysia has said Malaysia and Pakistan have been enjoying cordial and brotherly relationship since our independence in 1957.
He said this relationship has grown from strength to strength, particularly during the past one year period – beginning with the official visit of Prime Minister of Pakistan to Putrajaya on 20th and 21stof November 2018; followed by the official visit by the Prime Minister of Malaysia to Islamabad from the 21st until the 23rd of March this year – on the occasion of Pakistan Day.
He made these remarks while speaking during a ceremony held to hand over Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad’s gift of PROTON X70 car to Prime Minister of Pakistan. Abdul Razak Dawood Adviser to the Prime Minister for Commerce, Textile, Industry, and Production and Investment received the car.
The high commissioner further said our leaders met twice in Beijing (albeit briefly on the margins of the Belt and Road Initiative Summit last April), and most recently in New York (on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly Session last September).
“And as the Malaysian High Commissioner, I was very pleased that Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Malaysia –– from 19th until 21stDecember – to participate in the Kuala Lumpur Summit to be chaired by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad — a most fitting way indeed to end a most productive and beautiful year, insofar as Malaysia-Pakistan relationship is concerned”.
On the trade front, the high commissioner said Bilateral Joint Ministerial Committee on Trade and Investment has been established which will have its inaugural session in Islamabad or Kuala Lumpur next year.
Secondly we are focussing on increase in the exchange of visits by our business delegations; and thirdly, increase in two-way trade is also on our agenda.
“For the January-October 2019 period, our trade figure stood at USD1.1 billion – our exports to Pakistan amounted to USD90 million, while our imports from Pakistan amounted to USD20 million. I am hopeful that our bilateral trade performance this year will surpass last year’s figure, which stood at USD1.5 billion”.
While talking about cooperation at the social front and people-to-people contact he said two key achievements this year included visits by officials from four Malaysian universities to further explore cooperation in higher education with their Pakistani counterparts; and commencement of the twice weekly Islamabad/Kuala Lumpur/Islamabad six-hour direct flights by PIA in mid-October, to supplement the five-times weekly Kuala Lumpur/Lahore/Kuala Lumpur five-hour direct flights by Malindo Air that started in 2016.
Giving a brief description about PROTON car making plant in Pakistan the high commissioner said Proton X70SUV – a gift from my Prime Minister to the Prime Minister of Pakistan has been delivered to Pakistani officials.
“I consider our event here this morning as not merely to mark the presentation and handing over of the Proton X70 – a gift from my Prime Minister to his Pakistani counterpart, which in itself is undoubtedly a significant undertaking. It is not just a brotherly giftfrom one leader to another. It is more than that”
He said, this event signified the beginning of a productive Malaysia-Pakistan heavy industry joint venture in fulfilling our Strategic Partnership agenda – a long-term vision that was set by our leaders.=DNA
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