MALAYSIA AND KOREA CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF DIPLOMATIC TIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and South Korea will celebrate
the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties Tuesday.

Deputy King, in a congratulatory message to Korean
President Lee Myung-bak, expressed his happiness that the bilateral relations
between Malaysia and South Korea continued to develop towards a friendly,
multi-faceted partnership in line with the desire of the peoples of both
countries.

According to Foreign Ministry statement here Monday, Prime Minister Najib
Tun Razak, in his letter to his Korean counterpart, Chun Un-Chan,
said that he was heartened to note that the longstanding warm and cordial
relations between the two countries had developed and solidified over the years.

Najib further said that ever since the establishment of relations by both
countries' farsighted leaders, bilateral ties had grown rapidly encompassing a
multitude of substantive areas.

Since the inception of the Look East Policy in the early 1980s,
bilateral
relations had been further broadened and strengthened in the fields of trade,
investment, tourism, education, and capacity building, he noted.


Najib said Malaysia was ready to further explore new areas of cooperation to
enhance its relations with Korea.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman also extended his congratulations to
his counterpart and Trade Minister, Yu Myung-hwan.

He said that the close and substantive cooperation between the two countries
over the past 50 years had brought considerable progress and he was confident
that their bilateral ties would be further developed.

-- BERNAMA