Malaysia, Indonesia eye expansion of trade
Malaysia aims to boost bilateral trade with neighboring Indonesia including cross-border investments in a number of key sectors, a Malaysian official said on Sunday.
Among areas of interest are pharmaceuticals, aerospace, palm-oil processing, consumer goods, as well as defense and security, International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said.
These were reflected in nine Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between Malaysian and Indonesian companies, with a total potential investment value of more than 1.6 billion ringgit (363 million U.S. dollars), he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is currently on a two-day official visit to Indonesia from Sunday to Monday, his first tour abroad since assuming office last November, with trade being high on the agenda.
Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Indonesia is Malaysia's second-largest partner in trade and the third-largest source of foreign direct investment.
Shanghai engineer Roy Wang has a pressing task now that the border between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland is being reopened-rekindling his long-distance relationship after a painful separation.
"There were so many quarrels with my girlfriend. It was really miserable to handle," Wang, 23, told AFP on Wednesday. His wish to visit her was granted the very next day.
Authorities announced that widespread travel between Hong Kong and mainland China would resume from on Sunday, initially allowing about 60,000 people a day to cross in each direction.
Those measures are a game-changer for many after the border was effectively sealed for nearly three years during the coronavirus pandemic, separating loved ones, cutting off tourism and severing most business travel.
"I feel so relieved," Wang said after he heard the news. "After waiting for so long, even though the process is very hard, the result is satisfying." Hong Kong's recession-hit economy is desperate to reconnect with its biggest source of growth, and families are looking forward to reunions over the Chinese New Year later this month.
Within a day of the new rules being announced, more than 280,000 Hong Kongers registered to go to the mainland. But not everyone in Hong Kong shares the excitement.
Some worry about a potential surge of patients for Hong Kong's already stretched hospitals and competition for medical supplies in one of the world's most densely populated cities.
Others are reluctant to bid farewell to a less crowded life.
The reopening of the border comes as China faces soaring coronavirus infections after suddenly lifting its strict zero-Covid restrictions.
Hong Kong is also experiencing a winter uptick, with daily Covid hospitalisations rising from 3,000 to more than 5,300 in December and a bed occupancy rate of up to 120 percent.
Siddharth Sridhar, a clinical virologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the healthcare system was largely coping despite increased pressure.
"One of the reasons... is that the local population has high levels of hybrid immunity," Sridhar told AFP.
In recent weeks, pharmacy shelves have been cleared of paracetamol and fever medication after Hong Kongers bought up supplies for relatives on the mainland.
Some private hospitals have begun advertising deals to sell western mRNA vaccine shots that China has yet to approve for the mainland.
Hong Kong's government has vowed that the hospital and vaccine system will not be upended by the border reopening.
On Thursday, health minister Lo Chung-mau said visitors would not be able to access the city's free vaccination scheme although private hospitals were free to sell shots.