NAJIB'S VISIT FRUITFUL, FRANCE WANTS TIES TO BE STRENGTHENED

PARIS, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- France views Malaysia as an important friendly and
strategic country and wants bilateral ties to be strengthened be it
traditionally and in new ways besides voicing its committment to provide full
support and assistance according to Malaysia's needs.

This comes in the wake of the four-day official visit by Prime Minister
Najib Razak to France which ended on Wednesday where the highlight of the visit
of the visit was a meeting between Najib and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at
the Elysee Palace.

During the meeting which was described by Najib as a very good one, Sarkozy
had expressed interest in making an official visit to Malaysia next year, a
manifestation of his desire to strengthen ties.

"The outcome of the visit exceeded my expectations especially when Sarkozy
regarded Malaysia as a friendly nation which was important and strategic and his
spontaneous decision to visit Malaysia," he said at a news conference at the end
of his visit Wednesday here.

Najib left for home at about 11.45pm local time (5.45am Malaysian time).

Sarkozy also agreed to allow AirAsia to land in Paris after AirAsia's
request was put forward by Najib during the two leaders' meeting.

He said details about AirAsia's landing rights in Paris will be discussed at
the official level.

Najib said Sarkozy also expressed willingness to offer French nuclear
technology to Malaysia if the country wanted to generate nuclear energy.

France has the capability from beginning to end to generate nuclear energy
and it also has expertise in nuclear waste disposal.

Najib, however, said Malaysia has not made a decision about nuclear energy
generation.

"Before we make a big and important decision we need to make a current and
indepth study on the matter," he said.

Najib said the meeting with Sarkozy also touched on global and economic
issues.

During Najib's meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillion on
Tuesday, among issues discussed were Islamic Finance, halal food and expansion
of ties in tourism, green technology, investments and trade.

In the meeting with French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde on Wednesday,
Najib said Lagarde had expressed interest in Malaysia's expertise in Islamic
Finance.

Lagarde regarded Malaysia as a leading nation in Islamic Finance and
proposed to get indepth knowledge of it from Malaysia.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said Lagarde will visit Malaysia next
month as France wanted to develop Islamic Finance and during the visit Malaysia
and France will sign changes to the double taxation agreement.

Najib also had meetings with French companies and the EADS Company had
voiced willingness to make Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia as a maintenance, repair
and overhaul (MRO) centre for all types of Airbus aircraft.

"They had discussions with their joint venture firms and the matter will be
announced soon," he said.

Najib characterised EADS' interest as a positive development as MAS and
AirAsia were the biggest buyers of the Airbus aircraft especially the A320.

During his meeting with France's Parliament Speaker Bernard Accoyer,
Accoyar expressed desire to have relations with the Malaysian Parliament.

Najib said he will convey Accoyer's interest to the Lower House of
Parliament Speaker.
--BERNAMA