Malaysia to seek ICJ opinion on Israeli attack on Gaza flotilla; China emphasizes on strengthening trade ties with Malaysia; Second ARF Inter-Sessional Meeting (ISM) on Non-proliferation and Disarmament took place in Singapore;
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    • Malaysia has decided to urge the UN General Assembly to seek advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding Israeli attack on Gaza flotilla. Consistent with UN Security Council resolution 1860, Malaysia has also demanded the immediate lifting of Israeli blockade on Gaza that was imposed since June 2007. Malaysia would put pressure on the adoption of these two measures through the Emergency Special session of the UN General Assembly. But if the calls by the international community to initiate an impartial and transparent investigation of the still remain unheeded by the concerned party, Malaysia would urge the UN member states to reconvene the 10th Emergency Special session of the General Assembly to deliberate on the issue. This was stated by Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on July 11 while closing an international conference at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.1

    During his five-day official visit to Malaysia recently, China's Vice Minister of the State Council Information Office, Dong Yunhu emphasized on expanding cooperation between the two countries on various fields, especially in trade. In 2009, the trade volume between the two countries reportedly reached at almost US$52 billion of which Malaysia enjoyed a trade surplus of around US$1.7 billion.2

    The Second ASEAN Regional Forum’s Inter-Sessional Meeting (ISM) on Non-proliferation and Disarmament was held in Singapore recently. The three-day long meeting was jointly hosted by Singapore, China and the US and its theme was “Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy and Technology”. Besides the ten ASEAN member states, several other members of the ARF, including India, Japan, Australia, Canada EU, Russia, two Koreas, also took part in the meeting.3

    Malaysia and Iran has recently signed an MoU to promote cooperation in the areas of mutual interest in the field of education. The idea of signing of the MoU was mooted in 2008 and approved by the Cabinet in April 2009. The MoU basically include collaboration in school/institution linkages; science and mathematics; information and communication technology (ICT); and sport, culture and music; exploration of collaboration in teacher training and professional development, quality assurance in education, and technical and vocational education.4

    Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib has noted that there is a need to complete the ongoing talks over the Comprehensive Economic Agreement (CECA) between India and Malaysia before Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official visit to Kuala Lumpur in November 2010. It is worth noting that both the countries are currently involved in preparing a Framework for Strategic Partnership to enhance their bilateral relationship further.5

    With a view to curb cross border movements of insurgents, India is to sign a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with Myanmar. India has been emphasizing on signing of this accord as it is increasingly concerned about the Northeastern insurgents using Myanmar as a safe haven. An important aspect of this accord is the inclusion of the ‘cost compensation’ clause which would allow Myanmar to seek expenses incurred on special investigation carried out by it on India’s request.6

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