Japan to Help Malaysia Sell Samurai Bonds of Up to 200 B. Yen

November 6, 2018

Tokyo--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his visiting Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad, agreed Tuesday that Malaysia will issue up to 200 billion yen in yen-denominated bonds guaranteed by the government-affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Japan aims to support the Malaysian government's fiscal reconstruction by assisting its issuance of so-called samurai bonds in Japan, Japanese officials said.

At the beginning of their meeting in Tokyo, Abe welcomed the visit by Mahathir, calling him "a great leader of Asia and an old friend of Japan."

The Abe-Mahathir summit is the second since Mahathir made a comeback as the Southeast Asian country's prime minister in May this year, about 15 years after he left office previously. Their last meeting took place in June.

During the latest meeting, Abe and Mahathir agreed to step up their countries' cooperation in the fields of the economy, education and human resources development, with Mahathir aiming to reactivate his Look East policy of learning from countries such as Japan.

They confirmed bilateral cooperation to realize the denuclearization of North Korea and resolve the issue of Japanese abductees in the country promptly, as well as in responding to the situation in the South China Sea, where China is pushing ahead with expansionist moves.

The two leaders also agreed to continue working together on free trade frameworks including the 11-country Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which is set to take effect late this year. Both Japan and Malaysia are members of TPP-11.

Meanwhile, Abe told Mahathir of a plan to send experts from Kyushu Railway Co. <9142> and Japan Freight Railway Co. to Malaysia late this month to help improve the country's transportation networks, as well as his readiness to promote talks on the launch of Japanese university branch campuses in Malaysia, as hoped by Mahathir. Jiji Press