Malaysia Ready To Share Its Experiences With USA

Malaysia Ready To Share Its Experiences With USA

By Salmy Hashim

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is ready to share its experiences with the United States in dealing with global piracy, and the financial crisis, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Anifah Aman said after concluding a "productive meeting" with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, here Thursday.

Anifah said Malaysia placed a high priority on solving the piracy menace in the Gulf of Aden as it affected the economy of the region as well as the rest of the world.

This is the new foreign minister's first visit to Washington DC, and he hoped to bring the "excellent" bilateral relations in trade, investment, security, defence and education to a "higher level".

Clinton said: "We are going to start a consultative process of engagement to determine how we can move our relationship forward. We think there are many opportunities for us to cooperate on regional and international problems more closely.

"We also think we have things to learn from Malaysia, for example, how they handled the economic crisis. The minister offered assistance in Afghanistan and Pakistan, if the United States can work with Malaysia to figure out how best to deliver that.

"We are both concerned about refugees fleeing from Burma (Myanmar) and other displaced persons. We need a system to work with that. We want to do more on preventing the trafficking of persons through Malaysia."

The discussions between Anifah and Clinton covered a range of issues, including the latest developments in Myanmar concerning the arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Su Kyi, Asean as a regional institution, combating piracy and terrorism, finding solutions to the global financial crisis, and dealing with refugee flows, and human trafficking.

The two cabinet members emerged from Clinton's office beaming after a 30-minute meeting. Clinton, wearing a cream-coloured jacket and dark pants, looked radiant while Anifah appeared upbeat in his grey suit and red tie in front of the international media at the majestic Treaty Room.

Clinton noted Malaysia's efforts to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden as "very effective", saying that the Southeast Asian country had gained a lot of experience and expertise in combating piracy in the Straits of Melaka over the years.

Malaysia has had military vessels deployed there since last fall. The country will host an international conference on piracy on May 18, and attend the meeting of the Contact Group for Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.

"We look forward to Malaysia's membership in this important body and to benefiting from their advice and counsel," she said.

Clinton said at the joint news conference with Anifah that United States President Barack Obama looked forward to working with Malaysia and "we see many opportunities for engagement between our two countries".

"The role that Malaysia is playing and can play, regionally and even globally, on a number of important issues is significant, and therefore we want to broaden and deepen our strategic cooperation," she said.

Such areas include reaching out to the Islamic world through the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

"We would very much like to have the advice and the assistance of countries like Malaysia on how we can work more effectively with nations around the world.

"We intend to engage with the OIC. I think it's clear from President Obama's early months in office that the Obama Administration is reaching out to the Islamic world. But we want to try to find as many areas of agreement as possible and narrow the areas of disagreement."

The Obama Administration looked forward to strengthening its relationship with Southeast Asia.

Clinton visited the region on her first trip overseas as Secretary of State, and she promised to return this summer (July) for the Asean Post-Ministerial Conference and the Asean Regional Forum meetings.

-- BERNAMA