KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has expressed hope for greater cooperation between the country and Japan in the tertiary education sector to boost the quality of human capital in the two countries.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim relayed such hope during a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida today, in conjunction with the latter's working visit to Malaysia.
Both countries, said Anwar, have agreed with plans to expedite the process for the development of Tsukuba University Branch Campus in the country.
"We have, of course, agreed upon the establishment of Tsukuba University branch campus in Malaysia and we will accelerate the process.
"The Prime Minister (Kishida) is from Waseda University, a very important university too that has produced intellectual luminaries like the late Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid.
"As an alumnus of that university, I have asked the Prime Minister (Kishida) to provide additional support so that we have this special collaboration with Waseda University.
"And the Education Minister (Fadhlina Sidek) who is here has also referred to the collaboration between many other universities and institutions, including International Institute of Technology between Malaysia and Japan (MJIIT). We would of course benefit immensely from this collaboration," Anwar said.
Meanwhile, Kishida also gives Japan's commitment to continue contributing to the human capital development in Malaysia.
Anwar and Kishida today discussed our bilateral relations in various fields which include defence, security, education, and energy transition.
Anwar said that they would continue discussing these topics extensively and hoped to finalise some agreements before their next meeting in mid-December in Tokyo, which marks the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation.
Anwar and Kishida also witnessed the exchange of a memorandum of cooperation between the Malaysia and Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) on cooperation in the field of information and communication.
The exchange of MOU was between MIC policy coordination (international affairs) vice-minister Hiroshi Yoshida and the Communications and Digital Ministry secretary-general Datuk Mohamad Fauzi Md Isa.