MUHYIDDIN'S VISIT BOOSTS M'SIA-US RELATIONS, BIOTECH INDUSTRY

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin's fruitful
four-day working visit to Washington has further boosted Malaysia-United States
bilateral relations and Malaysia's biotechnology industry.

While here, Muhyiddin held several meetings with the US administration's
senior officials and investors, and attended events promoting the biotechnology
industry.

Describing his visit which ended Wednesday as successful, Muhyiddin said
much progress was made in KL-Washington relations through the series of meetings
that he attended.

"We have not only stressed on the importance of our relations in various
areas such as education, defence and security, but also on the need to
strengthen it," he said.

During his visit here, US senior officials from the State Department,
National Security Council, Internal Security Department and Defence Department
had made a courtesy call on Muhyiddin at a breakfast function.

During that unofficial meeting, they took the opportunity to discuss with
Muhyiddin issues related to Malaysia-US relations including Malaysia's
humanitarian contributions in Afghanistan, the English Teaching Assistance
Programme and the visa facility for Malaysians visiting the US.

Muhyiddin was also informed by the officials that the US administration
regarded Malaysia-US bilateral relations to be at very good level, especially
under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Muhyiddin also had a dialogue with the representatives of selected American
think tanks where Malaysia-US bilateral relations, regional and international
issues were touched on.

"They gave their views and also posed questions. I explained our policies at
the international level and Malaysia's stand on the Middle East issue, Asean,
our relations with China and other issues. The dialogue covered a broad area and
they were satisfied with my explanations.

"An engagement like this is very beneficial and they now understand Malaysia
better. They are seeing how important Malaysia is as a nation which can
contribute to the US and also at the international level," he said.

Muhyiddin also met with several US captains of industry including those who
have investments in Malaysia, at a reception hosted by the US-Asean Business
Council.

Among the companies represented at the reception were Intel, Qualcomm,
Honeywell, Citi Group, AT&T, Ace Group dan ConocoPhillips.

"The Council stated its satisfaction with Malaysia's dealings with the US
companies based in Malaysia. There was not even one complaint conveyed to me.
They are following closely our GTP and ETP, and they feel that these
transformation programmes will benefit Malaysia-US cooperation," Muhyiddin said.

He also attended the biggest world gathering on biotechnology, the 2011 BIO
International Convention, while in the US capital where Muhyiddin was given the
honour to jointly open the exhibition with Maryland Governor Martin 0'Malley and
BIO chief executive officer James Greenwood at the convention, making him the
first foreign leader to do so.

Muhyiddin will also declare open the BioMalaysia 2011 Conference and
Exhibition and the Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy
to be held in Kuala Lumpur this November.

It will be the first time the Pacific Rim Summit will be held outside the US
since its establishment.

Muhyiddin, meanwhile, regarded his presence at the BIO International
Convention as a manifestation of the priority given by the Malaysian government
to science and technology.

The deputy prime minister also visited the University of Maryland, College
Park to explore opportunities for cooperation between Malaysia and the
university, especially in research and development (R&D) in agro-biotechnology.

Among the areas identified for R&D was the production of vaccines for
Newcastle disease and avian influenza.
-- BERNAMA