The deals, witnessed by Malaysian premier Najib Razak and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao during a two-day visit to the Malaysian capital, will see the setting up of power plants, an aluminium smelter as well as other infrastructure projects in Malaysia.

"Today's signing to expand and deepen economic and trade cooperation signifies a deep commitment between the two governments to identify new areas of economic collaboration that should stimulate more trade and investment between both countries," Najib said after meetings with Wen.

"We are very confident that given (Wen's) strong leadership that China will continue to grow and provide strong impetus for global economic growth," he added.

The Chinese premier said that "the development of an equal and beneficial relationship would bring greater benefit to both countries."

"China appreciates Malaysia's role in enhancing the ties of China with other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries," he added.

"China agrees it will continue to import palm oil and will also import frozen durians (from Malaysia)."

Najib, who is also the finance minister announced that the central Bank Negara Malaysia will establish a representative office in Beijing to facilitate trade in local currencies.

It has offices in London and New York.

Yeah Kim Leng, group chief economist with RAM Holdings Bhd told AFP that the setting up of the central bank office in China will boost trade and investment.

"It will bolster economic ties and remove currency risk in respect of the unstable US dollar. It will allow two-way trade to be settled in each other's currencies," he said.

Thursday's agreements follow the signing of a joint action plan on strategic cooperation by Najib during a trip to China in 2009.

Wen's trip follows a visit by China's President Hu Jintao in 2009.

The visits have resulted in the signing of a several deals which saw Malaysia issue a commercial banking licence to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in late 2009.

Last January, China's leading power grid operator SGCC and Malaysian development fund 1MDB announced plans to establish hydropower plants and a massive aluminium smelter worth $11 billion in Sarawak state on resource-rich Borneo, an island split between Malaysia and Indonesia.

China was Malaysia's largest trading partner last year with trade worth $45.66 billion, making the economic powerhouse Kuala Lumpur's second largest export destination and largest source of imports.

Malaysia has been China's largest trading partner in ASEAN since 2008.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News