Press Releases
The First Japan-Malaysia Strategic Dialogue
On December 13, commencing at 10:00 a.m. the first Japan-Malaysia Strategic Dialogue was held in Tokyo , with Mr. NAKAMURA Ryo, Assistant Minister/ Director-General of Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. ARIMA Takanori, Director General for International Affairs of Bureau of Defense Policy, Ministry of Defense, attending from Japan, and Dato’ Ahmad Rozian, Deputy Secretary General (Bilateral Affairs), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Mohd Yani, Deputy Secretary General (Policy), Ministry of Defense, attending from Malaysia. This was the first Dialogue to be held following the agreement reached last year between the Japanese and Malaysian Prime Ministers to launch it. The overview of the Dialogue is as follows.
- The both sides welcomed the first meeting, held with the aim of strengthening cooperation in the security field, amidst the relationship between the two countries was elevated to a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” in December last year, and the cooperative relationship between the two countries has become even closer through the Japan-Malaysia Vice-Ministerial Consultations in October this year, which was the first meeting in nine years and the Japan-Malaysia Summit Meeting in November.
- Both sides shared their perception on the strategic environment of the two countries and held a candid discussion on regional and international situation in East Asia, including the East and South China Seas, Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as cooperation in a wide range of fields such as security, economic security, defense and cyber security.
- Both sides concurred to maintain the momentum of cooperation between Japan and Malaysia and to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation on regional and international affairs and security area, in light of the fact that Malaysia will assume the ASEAN chair next year, amidst the current increasingly complex international situation. In particular, the Japanese side explained its recent efforts in the Middle East, and the both sides discussed ways of cooperation to take advantage of Malaysia's ASEAN chairmanship.