The Japanese government has agreed to start a thorough consultation to set up Japanese university branches in Malaysia, said its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“Regarding Prime Minister Mahathir's (Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad) request for the opening of Japan’s university branch campus in Malaysia, we agreed to start a thorough consultation towards the realisation of the idea,” he said during a joint press conference with Mahathir here Tuesday.

Earlier, Mahathir and Abe had a delegation meeting at the Japanese Prime Minister's Office.

On Monday, Mahathir expressed the hope to see Japanese universities having their branches in Malaysia to enable Malaysian students to not only be exposed to Japan’s education system, but also to learn its culture.

Meanwhile, Abe said Japan remained committed to continue cooperation in Malaysia’s Look East Policy in areas such as education, investment promotion, human resource and technology transfer.

- Bernama