People-To-People ties an important cornerstone in Japan-Malaysia relations - Envoy

KUALA LUMPUR: People-to-people ties will remain an important cornerstone in Japan-Malaysia bilateral relations for many years to come, said Japan's ambassador to Malaysia Takahashi Katsuhiko.

"One of the outcome (of the people-to-people relations between Malaysia and Japan) is the opening of Japan's University of Tsukuba branch campus in Malaysia this September," he said in his keynote address for Japan-ASEAN Roundtable at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, here, Tuesday.

It was reported that the University of Tsukuba branch campus in Malaysia will be the first branch campus of a Japanese university to be ever established outside of Japan.

Speaking to Bernama at the event, Katsuhiko said Malaysia and Japan bilateral relations witnessed leaders exchange their visits last year when Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Malaysia in November and Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim visited Japan in December.

On 16 December 2023, Anwar Ibrahim and Kishida held a bilateral meeting at the sidelines of the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit in Tokyo to further bolster bilateral cooperation following their meeting in Putrajaya.

Therefore, the focus for this year is that both countries will enhance what the leaders have agreed to during last year's visit, Katsuhiko added.

Malaysia and Japan established diplomatic relations in 1957.

Elaborating on Japan-Malaysia cooperation, he said the Land of the Rising Sun is willing to share its experience in managing an aging society which involves multifaceted issue as it covers healthcare, pension, social system and family institution.

"Japan is willing to share the success and good example as well as the bad example so that Malaysia will not follow certain policy," Katsuhiko added.

According to earlier reports, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said that the country is expected to be an ageing nation by 2030 when 15.3 per cent of the population are aged 60 years and above.

-- BERNAMA