A videoconference was held today between Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano and the Malaysian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dato’ Kamarurdin Bin Jaffar, on the Italian and Malaysian response to Covid and cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, as well as on bilateral political and economic relations and regional cooperation.
Undersecretary Di Stefano thanked the Malaysian Government for the assistance provided for the repatriation of Italian citizens and stressed the importance of a multilateral approach to fight against the pandemic, recalling the importance of establishing a “Global Alliance to fight Covid-19”.
The meeting focused in particular on the prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries, both bilaterally and in their respective regional contexts (EU and ASEAN). Particularly, the importance of strengthening collaboration in the field of renewable energy and the circular economy was stressed out.
“Italy – Undersecretary Di Stefano stated – with the natural talents of its people as mediators, is a natural bridge between two different geographical areas such as ASEAN and the EU. In this context, relations between Italy and Malaysia, an important political and economic reference for us in South-Eastern Asia, can grow in a context of mutual advantage, as in the case of the space sector, which I mentioned with my Malaysian colleague as one of the fields in which Italy is investing the most. The objective is to further increase our bilateral exchange, which reached 2.5 billion euros in 2018, and to strengthen our regional presence”.
