Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday held a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wherein both sides, noting the long history of close bilateral cooperation, reaffirmed the commitment to strengthen the mutually beneficial partnership.
During the meeting, the two leaders held meaningful and outcome-oriented in-depth discussions in a "warm and cordial" atmosphere, according to a PM Office press release.
The discussion covered a wide range of bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest including those being faced by the Muslim Ummah. They also discussed the mechanisms to enhance bilateral cooperation to achieve concrete results in these areas.
Prime Minister Shehbaz congratulated the Malaysian prime minister on Malaysia's upcoming Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025.
Prime Minister Ibrahim welcomed Pakistan's continued engagement with ASEAN as a Sectoral Dialogue Partner and expressed support for further engagement between Pakistan and ASEAN as well as Pakistan's larger role in ASEAN.
In setting the tone and future direction of bilateral relations between the two countries, the two leaders stressed the importance of dialogue and exchanges of visits at all levels and underlined the importance of the joint ministerial commission (JMC), bilateral consultations and other mechanisms to enhance engagement at all levels.
Joint statement
Pakistan and Malaysia agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in multiple areas including trade, investment, defence, agriculture and others besides reiterating their strong positions on regional issues including Gaza and Kashmir.
In a joint press stakeout following their one-on-meeting and delegation-level talks, both prime ministers told the media that their discussions focused on strengthening the bilateral collaboration in multiple areas of bilateral interest as well as regional and international issues including Palestine and Kashmir.
As part of the efforts to boost bilateral trade, both leaders agreed that Pakistan would export Halal meat worth $200 million per annum and 100,000 metric tonnes of Basmati Rice to Malaysia.
Total trade between Malaysia and Pakistan stood at $1.4 billion with the trade goods included palm oil, apparel, textiles, chemical and chemical-based products, and electrics and electronic products. Among South Asian countries, Pakistan is Malaysia's third-largest trading partner.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Shehbaz told the media that besides discussing the export of Pakistan's Basmati rice, two sides also discussed the possibilities of exporting Halal meat from Pakistan to Malaysia worth $200 million per annum, and assured that his country would make no compromise on quality.
He said the Malaysian PM had also assured to address the discrepancies in the import of Pakistan's rice into his country.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that they had a "wonderful" meeting to discuss the enhancement of trade and investment, besides exploring avenues of further cooperation in defence, tourism, agriculture, green energy, skilled labour and youth empowerment.
He said both sides were unanimous in believing that the two countries would collectively find new heights in trade and investment cooperation for a bright future for two nations.
Assuring his cooperation to further enhance Pakistan-Malaysia defence and security cooperation, he said that thousands of Pakistani students currently studying in Malaysia to help strengthen the people-to-people contacts.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that Malaysia's development should be emulated as a role model for all Muslim countries where foreign direct investment and exports were on the increase.
He said that both sides also discussed the "heart-wrenching" and "heart-breaking" situation of Gaza where innocent children, men and women were being killed.
He said under the unparalleled genocide and carnage by Israeli forces, the cities were being demolished in Gaza and both sides stressed the immediate ceasefire.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that both sides discussed the Kashmir issue where people were being denied their right to self-determination despite rendering huge sacrifices for last several decades. Thousands of Kashmiris have been martyred, many were in detention in 3rd class jails and made subject to severe punishment.
He expressed the hope that the Kashmiris would soon get their right to self-determination in light of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that both sides had agreed on a number of matters and follow-up discussions would be held in the upcoming joint commission meeting in Kuala Lumpur this month to ensure swift implementation of the decisions.
He assured that the Malaysian trade office would be opened in Karachi soon to strengthen economic collaboration between the two countries.
He said Malaysia was seeking more skilled labour in various sectors including IT, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors and Pakistan could also be a source for such skilled labour.
The Malaysian PM said that Malaysia had agreed to import 100,000 tonnes of Basmati rice from Pakistan.
Anwar Ibrahim appreciated Prime Minister Shehbaz's address at the United Nations General Assembly in which he said he had contested the case of Gaza effectively. He also appreciated Pakistan's strong stance against Israel's genocide of Palestinians and escalation of hostilities on the Middle East by Israel.
He said the ongoing aggression in Gaza and Lebanon was not a war between the two countries rather it was a disregard for international order and also questioned the inaction of the global community.
Prime Minister Ibrahim reiterated that Malaysia was committed to the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and believed in an amicable resolution of the dispute.
The two prime ministers also witnessed exchange of signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and a Letter of Cooperation. This included MoU between Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and Malaysia External Trade Development Cooperation (MATRADE) on trade cooperation, and MoU for cooperation in halal trade between Pakistan-Malaysia Business Council (PMBC) of Pakistan and Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council (MPBC) of Malaysia.
A Letter of Cooperation between Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was also signed.
Later, Prime Minister Ibrahim also presented the works of renowned poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal which were translated into Bahasa Melayu. He also presented an Urdu copy of his book titled "The Asian Renaissance."
Earlier, Prime Minister Ibrahim, who landed here on Wednesday for a three-day state visit – the first as prime minister – along with a high-level delegation, arrived at the PM House where he was given the guard of honour and he also planted a sapling in the PM House's lawn, before meeting his counterpart Shehbaz Sharif.
In his social media post on X, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his pleasure at productive discussions with Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, aimed at strengthening Pakistan-Malaysia relations in key areas such as trade, IT, energy, agriculture, Halal meat exports, tourism, education, and defence.
The prime minister said that he discussed regional and global developments, particularly the situations in Gaza and Lebanon with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Both prime ministers also witnessed the signing of historic MoUs and agreements across various sectors.
He noted that bilateral ties are poised to strengthen for the mutual benefit of both nations, with both sides agreeing to ensure robust follow-up on the decisions made during their discussions. He thanked PM Ibrahim for inviting him to visit Malaysia, which he looks forward to undertaking in the near future.
Business communities
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged to offer the best possible facilities to the Pakistani and Malaysian business communities to boost their commercial activities.
Speaking at the Pakistan-Malaysia High Level Business Dialogue, he emphasized the strong bilateral relations between the two countries and highlighted the significance of collaboration between their business sectors for mutual prosperity.
Referring to his discussions with visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, he stated that their meetings were highly productive, wherein they discussed issues being faced by the two countries.
He said the Malaysian prime minister had assured of his complete support for both Pakistani and Malaysian businessmen to collaborate on joint ventures in sectors such as Halal meat, information technology, and other areas of mutual interest.
He said that PM Anwar Ibrahim's visit would further enhance relations between the two countries.
He said that Pakistan was fully geared up to grab the opportunity of exporting high-quality Halal meat to Malaysia as the agreement to the effect, besides many others, would be finalized during his forthcoming visit to the brotherly country.
Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim on the occasion emphasized the importance of close contacts between the business communities of two countries to foster economic cooperation.
He assured that Malaysia would continue its efforts to strengthen bilateral relations with Pakistan.
Pakistan and Malaysia agreed to enhance educational linkages, and cooperation in the fields of aviation, halal meat processing, trade and tourism.
The bilateral ties were discussed as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim led the delegation level talks here at the
The two prime ministers noted the historic and fraternal ties between Pakistan and Malaysia and emphasized the importance of regular high-level exchanges and strategic dialogue and strengthening of bilateral institutional mechanisms.
Reaffirming Malaysia-Pakistan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (MPCEPA) signed on November 8, 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, the two sides agreed to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation, enhance trade, remove barriers in key sectors, provide level playing field, and address the trade imbalance.
In this context, both sides agreed to an early Joint Review Committee meeting for a comprehensive evaluation of the MPCEPA with the view to further strengthening the bilateral economic partnership.
Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in processing of halal products. The Pakistan side offered to increase export of halal meat to Malaysia to meet their demand.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif gave proposal of increasing export of Halal meat from Pakistan to Malaysia to 200 Millon USD per annum.
The two sides reaffirmed their strategic partnership and the importance of bilateral defence exchanges rooted in the MoU on Defense Cooperation signed on 1st August 1997; and appreciated the decisions taken at the 14th Joint Committee on Defense Cooperation (JCDC) held in November 2023 in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Shehbaz welcomed Malaysia's decision to send a high-level delegation to participate in IDEAS 2024.
The two sides agreed on the need to enhance educational linkages and cooperation between the institutes of higher learning and technical and vocational training.
They recognized the importance of the tourism industry and youth exchanges in promoting people-to-people contacts, sustainable socio-economic growth, and in fostering mutual understanding between Pakistan and Malaysia.
They welcomed the increase in tourism between the two countries and agreed to expand aviation cooperation and enhance bilateral business-to-business exchanges.
The two sides also exchanged views on important regional and global developments including the situation in Palestine and the Middle East.
The two prime ministers also witnessed exchange of signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and a Letter of Cooperation. This included MoU between Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and Malaysia External Trade Development Cooperation (MATRADE) on trade cooperation, and MoU for cooperation in halal trade between Pakistan-Malaysia Business Council (PMBC) of Pakistan and Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council (MPBC) of Malaysia. A Letter of Cooperation between Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was also signed.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also hosted a luncheon in honour of the Malaysian prime minister and accompanying delegation.
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