When Malaysia celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence on 31 August, it will also mark 50 years of diplomatic relations with Australia .
In fact, diplomatic exchange between Malaysia and Australia began before independence when Mr Thomas Critchley was appointed as Australia's Commissioner to Malaya in December 1955.
A year later, in August 1956, Dato' Nik Kamil Mahmood arrived in Canberra to head the Commission of the Federation of Malaya in Australia .
In commemorating these special and historical occasions, the Governor-General of Australia , HE Major-General Michael Jeffrey AC, CVO, MC will attend the ceremonies in Kuala Lumpur that mark these two events.
The 50 years of mutually beneficial relations have made significant contributions to progress in the two countries. This was highlighted by the Malaysian Foreign Minister, YB Datuk Seri Syed Hamid early in August at the in au gural Malaysia-Australia Colloquium organised by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia and the Australia-Malaysia Institute in Kuala Lumpur . He said that the current relations between Malaysia and Australia were probably as strong as they had ever been, in particular, the areas of trade and investment, education, security and defence, science and technology as well as tourism.
Malaysia-Australia trade increased to 26.2 billion ringgit (US6.9 billion dollars) in 2005 compared with merely 3.3 billion ringgit (US0.8 billion dollars) in 1994.
There is also much more that can be done in the field of education. While Australia will continue to be a popular destination for young Malaysians seeking higher education, Malaysia has also made itself a hub for education and learning.
More than 20,000 Malaysian students study in tertiary institutions in Australia at present.
In addition, over 11,000 Malaysians are pursuing Australian courses through branch campuses and twinning programmes in Malaysia itself.
Both countries can expand co-operation in education by encouraging greater collaboration among and between Malaysian and Australian universities and institutions of higher learning.
Some Australian universities have already established their campuses in Malaysia . The Malaysian government would like the students to experience Malaysian life and culture and to get to know Malaysia more deeply. We need to enhance the people-to-people relations between our two countries.
On the multilateral level, APEC, as an economic forum with its non-binding and voluntary approach will meet in Sydney in September. It is a big event for Australia to be hosting APEC for the second time, as Australia hosted the in au gural meeting in 1989 in Canberra .
As for Malaysia , we hosted this event in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur and our Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers have confirmed their participation in the forthcoming APEC meeting in Sydney in September.