BEIJING: Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin has described the visit to China, with the chairmen of three other ministerial sub-committees on the missing flight MH370, as fruitful and timely.
He said the visit was aimed at enhancing understanding of the missing aircraft tragedy by both countries, and to reaffirm the principles of the tripartite agreement involving Malaysia, China and Australia.
"The meetings today (last night) were very fruitful. We discussed various issues including technical, asset deployment and the next of kin of the passengers onboard," he said.
Agreeing to have consistency in all decisions made between Malaysia and China, the meetings also summarised several new principles for the operation that both sides would plan, after an announcement of the new search area for the missing MH370 is made.
Hamzah, who is also the chairman of the Next of Kin Committee on MH370, said this to Malaysian journalists, here, last night.
He said his Chinese counterpart Xie Hangsheng had expressed understanding of Malaysian culture and mechanisms to resolve issues concerning the relatives of the affected Chinese passengers and the search-and-rescue operations.
"We would like to be transparent with them so that there is no misunderstanding in the communication process," Hamzah said.
On the family members' dissatisfaction over the issue, he said they could obtain assistance from the family support and communication centre which had been established here or contact the centre through its hotline.
"I have met quite a number of them, and most of them prefer to see me personally rather than in a big group," he said, adding that many of them realised there were many issues related to confidentiality.
However, answers related to technical issues might be delayed as confirmation was needed before any announcement was made, he added.
The three other sub-committees are the Assets Deployment Committee, Technical and Logistics Committee, and Liaison, Communication and Media Committee.
They are respectively headed by Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi and Communications and Multimedia Deputy Minister Datuk Jailani Johari.-- BERNAMA