CRI听力:China and Malaysia Vow to Boost Bilateral Trade and Investment

Speaking at a press conference after his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister, Premier Li Keqiang said China and Malaysia should deepen strategic communication as well as mutual respect and political trust, so as to lay a solid foundation for boosting bilateral relations in a healthy and stable way.

He also urged the two sides to enhance connectivity in the region and strengthen cooperation in a series of different areas.

"We express our willingness to actively participate in construction of projects such as the high-speed railway linking Malaysia and Singapore and railways in southern Malaysia. The bilateral cooperation between the two countries is multilevel. We have reached new agreements on the field of finance, and we will also boost cooperation in areas such as national defense and marine economy."

Premier Li also suggested that the two countries should promote people-to-people exchanges and enhance cooperation in education and tourism.

For his part, Najib Razak spoke highly of Premier Li's visit and says that bilateral relations currently are at their best.

"This visit reflects the strong and growing ties between Malaysia and China. Since the elevation of the Malaysia-China relations from strategic cooperation to comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013, we have seen significant development in our bilateral cooperation in various strategic areas. The relations between our two countries are not only growing but it is at the highest level ever between our two countries."

Meantime, Premier Li also announced that China would grant a 50-billion yuan, or 8.2-billion U.S. dollar quota to Malaysia under the Renminbi-Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program.

He pledged several moves to strengthen financial cooperation with Malaysia while addressing a bilateral high-level economic forum in Kuala Lumpur.
"The Chinese side is ready to invest in Malaysia's government bonds in keeping with market principle. And at the same time Chinese banks are also ready to issue RMB denominated bonds in Malaysia. Banks of the two sides can enhance policy communication and increase the use of local currencies in our two-way trade and investment cooperation."

Bilateral trade between China and Malaysia stands at over 100 billion dollars annually and mutual investment has been growing rapidly.

Malaysia has been the largest trading partner of China among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the past seven years, while China remains Malaysia's biggest trading partner.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.