Heads of State of Myanmar and Malaysia hold bilateral talks, meet media personnel

THE bilateral talks be­tween the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and Ma­laysia took place at the Of­fice of the Prime Minister of Malaysia in Kuala Lum­pur yesterday morning.

At the talks, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Anwar bin Ibrahim said that Myanmar and Malay­sia are important friends, like neighboring countries, and Myanmar is also an important country for ASEAN. Malaysia always places great importance on maintaining good dip­lomatic relations with My­anmar.

He stated that they have met previously in Thailand and the People’s Republic of China, and he hopes that the interactions will further strengthen the bonds of friendship between them. He would also like to express grat­itude for accepting his invitation, with a view to further strengthen­ing the existing bonds of friendship, enhancing interactions, and promot­ing cooperation for the mutual interests of the two countries.

He expressed his grat­itude for the assistance and cooperation extended to Myanmar nationals in Malaysia who have been facing difficulties for vari­ous reasons, including ef­forts to provide them with assistance and rescue and facilitate their repatriation to Myanmar.

The President of My­anmar also expressed his pleasure and pride that Malaysia has been participating as a BRICS partner country since Jan­uary 2025. He expressed his belief that the meeting and discussions would further strengthen the existing bonds of friend­ship between the two countries and enhance bilateral cooperation. He noted that Myanmar and Malaysia had estab­lished diplomatic relations in 1958 and that more than 68 years had passed since then, with 2028 marking the 70^th anniversary of diplo­matic relations. In this re­gard, he proposed making preparations in advance to organize special and meaningful commemora­tive events to mark the oc­casion. He also highlight­ed that the two countries had maintained close and friendly relations through­out the history of their bi­lateral ties. Although they are not neighbouring coun­tries, he noted that they had once been under the same colonial rule and had maintained close relations as countries in the South­East Asian peninsula. My­anmar and Malaysia are also partner countries that have cooperated closely for many years as members of ASEAN.

He said that the My­anmar government wished to further strengthen the bonds of friendship with Malaysia and enhance bi­lateral cooperation. He not­ed that Myanmar had an embassy in Kuala Lumpur, which was providing assis­tance to Myanmar nation­als in Malaysia, and that the government was also placing special emphasis on further promoting bi­lateral relations.

He stated that Myan­mar had successfully held a free and fair general election for its citizens be­tween December 2025 and February 2026. He noted that elected parliamentary representatives had been regularly convening par­liamentary sessions, with the third session currently underway, and that legis­lative matters and discus­sions aimed at promoting public interests were being actively carried out in ac­cordance with democratic principles. He also said that Myanmar was firmly committed to strengthen­ing the multiparty demo­cratic system and building a Union based on democ­racy and federalism.

He recounted that the two countries had al­ready signed agreements and memoranda of under­standing in areas such as air transport, trade, economic cooperation, science and technology, culture, investment pro­tection, avoidance of dou­ble taxation, and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. He added that, building on these existing agreements, they wished to continue exploring ar­eas where practical coop­eration between the two countries could be further expanded.

Regarding economic cooperation, he said that the total trade volume be­tween the two countries ex­ceeded US$1.6 billion last year. He noted that Malay­sia ranked fourth among Myanmar’s trading part­ners and ninth among the 48 countries and regions investing in Myanmar. He said that the two countries wished to cooperate in or­ganizing economic forums, B2B networking events, and knowledge-sharing programmes on business and trade, as well as con­ducting joint research and sharing experiences on helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) access interna­tional markets. He added that Myanmar also wished to participate in trade fairs held in Malaysia. He fur­ther expressed a desire to enhance cooperation in e-commerce and digital promotion platforms be­tween the two countries. He said that Myanmar was prioritizing investment opportunities and invit­ing foreign investment to meet the requirements of national development and nation-building efforts, and invited Malaysian busi­nesses to make greater investments in Myanmar.

At the economic dis­cussion held yesterday, the President continued that the two sides discussed promoting trade and in­vestment, cooperation in agriculture and val­ue-added production, and investment opportunities in special economic zones (SEZs), micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and the financial sector. He said that, given Malaysia’s extensive ex­perience in research, My­anmar wished to enhance cooperation in agricultural and livestock research.

He noted that My­anmar’s West Yangon Technological University and University of Infor­mation Technology had each signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Malaysia’s Multime­dia University and were carrying out cooperation in education and research.

He said that Myan­mar and Malaysia could enhance economic coop­eration in areas such as hospital and clinic services, pharmaceutical manufac­turing, medical equipment, healthcare technology and skills development.

He explained that My­anmar had enacted the Anti-Online Scam Law on 31 July, enabling more effective prosecution, punishment, prevention and suppression of online fraud. He added that Myan­mar was cooperating with neighbouring countries to prevent the operation of online scam and gambling businesses in the country by conducting clearance operations, systematical­ly destroying confiscated items and dismantling ille­gal buildings in an orderly manner.

He said that Myan­mar was also cooperating in efforts to combat human trafficking in the ASEAN region. Regarding the drug issue, he noted that Myan­mar’s Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) was exchanging information with Malaysia’s National Anti-Drugs Agen­cy (NADA) and the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP). He said that online scams, drug production and trafficking were mainly occurring in border areas where ethnic armed organizations were dominant and which were beyond the effective reach of the Myanmar govern­ment’s administration. As these are transnational crimes that have adverse impacts not only within Myanmar but also on coun­tries across the region, he stressed that they could not be addressed by any sin­gle country alone. He said that the problems could only be resolved through information sharing among regional countries and en­hanced cooperation and coordination among their law enforcement agencies.

He stated that, accord­ing to their records, more than 160,000 Myanmar migrant workers and their family members were living and working in Malaysia. He expressed a desire to work closely with the Malaysian government to ensure their workplace safety, access to their rights and protections, and improved social welfare and support. He added that they also wished to discuss measures to ensure that workers could enter Malay­sia through legal and order­ly channels, protect them from exploitation, facilitate visa and work permit pro­cedures, and effectively implement the bilateral labour agreements and memoranda of understand­ing (MoUs). He emphasized that the contributions and efforts of Myanmar work­ers in Malaysia were impor­tant to the economies and friendship of both countries, and expressed appreciation for the assistance and care provided by the Malaysian government.

He underlined that the two countries are re­gional partner countries and are also members of regional and international organizations, including ASEAN and the United Nations. Regarding the five ASEAN statements, he said that Myanmar was making every possible effort to achieve the best possible outcomes based on the country’s domestic circumstances. In line with Myanmar’s foreign policy, the country would contin­ue to engage with ASEAN based on the realities on the ground, while placing priority on safeguarding its national interests and sovereignty and pursuing a Myanmar-led, Myan­mar-owned approach to further strengthening re­lations with ASEAN.

The Malaysian Prime Minister expressed his pleasure at the extensive and candid discussions held with the President aimed at enhancing cooperation between the two countries across various sectors. He had arranged for senior government officials to attend the meeting in or­der to promote investment and practical economic co­operation with Myanmar. He also expressed Malay­sia’s desire to import from Myanmar the goods and commodities required by Malaysia.

He vowed that Malay­sia should continue working to strengthen the bonds of friendship, interactions and cooperation between the two countries and their peo­ples, and that cooperation in all areas should be further enhanced. He described the President’s current visit as a successful one and ex­pressed his appreciation to the President of Myanmar for taking the time to visit Malaysia. He added that Malaysia would continue to further strengthen the existing bonds of friendship between the two countries.

The two Heads of State exchanged views on the enhancement of bilateral friendship, relations and multi-sectoral cooperation.

Also present at the meeting were Union Minis­ters U Khin Maung Yi, U Tin Maung Swe, U Min Naung, U Myint Kyaing, U Maung Myint and U Tun Ohn, Ra­khine State Chief Minister U Naing Oo, Ayeyawady Re­gion Chief Minister U Aye Kyaw, senior Tatmadaw officers from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, deputy ministers, Myan­mar Ambassador to Ma­laysia U Aung Kyaw Moe, Myanmar Military Attaché (Army, Navy and Air) Brig- Gen Nyi Nyi Oo, and senior officers from the Malaysian government.

After the talks, Pres­ident U Min Aung Hlaing and Malaysian Prime Min­ister Dato’ Sri Anwar bin Ibrahim met media from both countries and ex­plained the relations and friendship between the two countries, economic coop­eration and matters related to the official visit.

The two Heads of State cordially greeted officials from both countries and media personnel.

The President of My­anmar and the Malaysian Prime Minister left for the Prime Minister’s Resi­dence by car. — MNA/TTA