PRESS RELEASE

YAB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin‘s visit to Cebu, Republic of the Philippines to attend the 45^th SEAMEO Council Conference (SEAMEC) and the 5^th ASEAN Education Minister’s Meeting (ASED) from 26 to 27 January 2010, will be his first official visit to the country since assuming the post as the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Education of Malaysia.  During his short visit, YAB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to have bilateral meeting with the Secretary of Education, Hon. Jesli Lapus.

Overall bilateral relations between Malaysia and the Philippines have generally been cordial. There had been many exchanges of high level visits between the two countries which further strengthen the bilateral cooperation. As a close neighbour, Malaysia has also been instrumental in facilitating the Southern Philippines’ peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) since 2001.

Malaysia is the Philippines’ 2^nd largest trading partner in ASEAN and the Philippines is Malaysia’s 4^th largest trading partner in ASEAN.  Major export items from Malaysia to the Philippines comprised amongst others of electrical and electronic products, palm oil, crude and refined petroleum. Meanwhile, major import items from the Philippines to Malaysia comprised of electrical and electronic products.  

Since its inception in 1980 until August 2009, more than 800 Filipino officials have attended the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) trainings in various diverse courses ranging from science to agriculture.

In the aftermath of the typhoon “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” which hit the Philippines on 26 September and 3 October 2009, Malaysia was among the first countries to extend humanitarian assistance to the typhoons’ victims. Apart from the humanitarian assistance given by the Government of Malaysia, our Malaysian NGOs had also sent assistances in the form of much needed essentials such as food, clean water, medicines, tents and others. These assistances reflected the strong people-to-people relations between Malaysia and the Philippines in the true spirit of ASEAN’s solidarity. 

Embassy of Malaysia

Manila, Republic of the Philippines

26 January 2010