Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday met with Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who arrived in Beijing earlier to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Xi said China and Malaysia should take joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an opportunity to create a bright future for the China-Malaysia relations.

The BRI will push forward China's all-round opening-up, which will bring about bigger opportunities for all countries in the world, especially for the neighbouring countries, he said.

The two sides should strengthen planning, enlarge the cooperation platform and promote high-quality cooperation, Xi said, adding that the two joint industrial parks in Qinzhou, China, and Kuantan, Malaysia, should be well built into an important connecting point for the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, promoting connectivity and development of the two countries and the region.

He said the two sides should strengthen multilateral coordination, and improve and upgrade the China-Asean cooperation.

China supports Malaysia in hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting next year, and promoting regional economic integration, economic globalisation and the building of an open world economy, Xi said.

Mahathir said the BRI is a great initiative with huge potential, which will not only help deal with the infrastructure and transport bottlenecks that are impeding the development of different countries, but also address the problem of unbalanced development among countries and promote cultural dialogue and exchanges.

The international community should better know and understand the Belt and Road, which will be beneficial to the world, he said.

Malaysia supports the BRI and looks forward to accelerating its own development by jointly building the Belt and Road, he said, adding that Malaysia is willing to enhance cooperation in international and regional affairs with China and jointly push forward Asean-China relations.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Mahathir yesterday.

Xi said China is willing to strengthen the aligning of the BRI with Malaysia's development strategy and encourage well-established and capable Chinese enterprises to invest in Malaysia.

The Chinese market welcomes more quality agricultural products from Malaysia, said Xi, adding that China is ready to make continued efforts to deepen regional cooperation with Asean countries, including Malaysia, especially in expediting the negotiation on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.

Mahathir said Malaysia supports the BRI and welcomes investments from Chinese companies.

Malaysia is willing to cooperate with China in the economy, technology, agriculture and other areas, he added.

After the meeting, Xi and Mahathir witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents.

- CCTV+