FRANCE WANTS TO MAINTAIN GOOD RELATIONS WITH M'SIA, BREAK NEW GROUND

From Leslean Arshad

PARIS, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- France wants to maintain its good ties with
Malaysia and has asked Malaysia to consider the technologiacal capability of its
companies in waste management, land transport and nuclear power to explore new
areas in relations between the two countries.

This was conveyed by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to Najib Tun
Razak during their meeting at his official residence at Hotel Matignon
here Tuesday, in conjunction with the Malaysian Prime Minister's four-day visit
to France starting Sunday.

Najib told Malaysian journalists that at the meeting he conveyed AirAsia's
aspiration to obtain landing rights in Paris.

He said AirAsia's application for landing rights at the Orly Airport was
appropriate in view that the airline was the biggest customer of the Airbus
A320.

He said Fillon informed him that AirAsia was offered landing rights outside
Paris and the application for landing rights in Paris would be considered.

The meeting also touched on global issues like the new world financial
architecture and climate change, he said.

On his meeting with the secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, on Tuesday, Najib said
Gurria noted Malaysia's efforts to improve it standing after it was reported to
have been blacklisted by the OECD.

According to news reports in April, Malaysia and three other countries,
which had been blacklisted by the OECD, were taken off the list after they
agreed to adopt the OECD’s regulations.

It was also reported that the G20 leaders meeting in London, also in April,
had cited Malaysia, the Philippines, Uruguay and Costa Rica as uncooperative tax
havens, based on an OECD list.

Najib said Gurria also suggested that Malaysia take part in a study on
performance in education which involved more than 60 countries to benchmark its
performance against other countries.


On nuclear energy, Najib said it was a long-term option and not an easy
undertaking.

"Somewhere along the line, if we decide that there is a strong case for
Malaysia to generate electricity by using nuclear power, then we will take that
decision but not immediately," he said.

He said the government needed to correct the fuel mix as it was not optimal
currently since it utilised too much coal and gas.

The first move was to increase the hydro component and look at renewable
energy such as solar, he said.

On the establishment of the Unesco-Malaysia Cooperative Trust Fund, which he
announced when addressing the Unesco's general conference Tuesday, Najib said
the intention was to provide the less developed countries with enhanced capacity
to deliver quality education.

"You train the teacher, the teacher will be productive for many years. It's
much better then giving financial assistance because the teacher can be a
multiplier factor in terms of educating students with quality teaching," he
said.

-- BERNAMA