KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — British High Commissioner to Malaysia Charles Hay said that as the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union (EU), the country is presented with the opportunity to reach out and forge even stronger ties with longstanding partners like Malaysia.
In a statement here today, Hay said Britain wants to do more with Malaysia and “there is so much more we can achieve together across a spectrum of areas including trade, education, science and technology, defence, security and tackling climate change”.
The UK is due to officially leave the EU at 11pm (London), January 31 (7am Malaysian time, February 1).
He said bilateral trade between the UK and Malaysia has increased 10 per cent to £5 billion (RM27 billion) and “we look forward to growing this even further”.
“The UK will continue to support Malaysia in its reform agenda through the sharing of British expertise and experience. On the defence front, we remain committed to the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) which the UK and Malaysia are part of.
“With both the UK and Malaysia sharing a common goal in tackling climate change and plastic waste, we have a unique opportunity to work together to address these global problems, ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) which the UK will co-host with Italy in 2020,” he said. — Bernama
