UK eyes greater collaboration with Malaysia in green technology

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who was in Malaysia early this week, said with issues relating to environment becoming increasingly important now and in the future, both sides should look further in tapping the huge potential in the green sector.

As part of its commitment towards a green future, the UK had, earlier this month, announced to pledge GBP110 million (approx. RM619 million) in financial support to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure projects for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The UK is also currently hosting the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, and the conference will wrap up on Friday (Nov 12).

"I think there is a strong area where we can collaborate, on the environment, and we are also interested in the potential for investment in clean tech and green energy as well," she said in an exclusive interview with Bernama at the sidelines of her two-day working visit here.

After Malaysia, Truss travelled to Thailand and Indonesia as part of her maiden week-long working tour to this region to strengthen UK's economic links and boost security cooperation with key countries in this region.

"We have a long standing partnership with Malaysia. We want to take it to a new level of cooperation. We want to collaborate more closely with Malaysia," she said.

On economy and trade, the Foreign Secretary said she looked forward for both Malaysia and the UK to build up on reciprocal investments in both countries.

"In the areas of technology, we are talking about the next generation of technology; how we are going to help to shape the standard and also how we can help to share technology and technological expertise between our two countries," she said.

During her visit here, Truss met with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Senior Minister of Defence Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

Truss also highlighted on the need to strengthen cooperation in security with Malaysia, specifically on cybersecurity.

Three agreements were signed between Malaysia and the UK on her visit, namely the Strategic Dialogue between Malaysia and the UK, a Memorandum of Understanding on Healthcare Cooperation, and Exchange of note between Malaysia's IDFR (Institute of Diplomatic and Foreign Relations) and UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

According to UK's National Statistics Office, total bilateral trade between Malaysia and the UK is valued at GBP4.7 billion (approx. RM26.47 billion) in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2021.

UK is Malaysia's 19th largest trading partner globally, 18th export destination, and 19th import source. In 2019, Malaysia's total trade with the UK increased by 5.3 per cent to RM16.45 billion, compared with 2018.

For the first nine months of this year, total trade with the UK dropped by 2.6 per cent to RM11.9 billion - compared with the corresponding period in 2019 - due to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the investment front, the UK is the ninth largest foreign investor in Malaysia with a total of 467 manufacturing projects implemented with UK's participation worth RM10.16 billion, creating 39,338 jobs.