China, Malaysia to develop maritime training hub

Malaysia, in collaboration with China, is planning to develop a maritime training hub for the ASEAN region.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Malaysia had offered its Maritime Training Institute for the purpose.

"The governments of Malaysia and China are discussing the mechanism of the collaboration, including the hosting of regional programs," he said in a statement from Mandalay, Myanmar, on Monday.

Liow issued the statement after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Chuantang, on the sidelines of the 20th ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting to discuss bilateral matters.

Liow said the cooperation, which is aimed to leverage collective resources, would benefit other ASEAN members as well.

He said China had in the past provided technical assistance and numerous capacity-building programs to ASEAN, particularly in the training of seafarers.

To reciprocate, Malaysia has offered the maritime institute to collaborate with Chinese experts to develop a training hub for the region, Liow said.

He also announced that the Qinzhou Port in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has become a sister port of Kuantan as a mark of close cooperation between the two countries.

"The two ports will cooperate in various fields, including shared shipping lanes, logistics, information exchange and talent training," he said.

Liow also welcomed the establishment of the Silk Road Economy Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

He said the Silk Road initiative would strengthen connectivity and support economic growth and trade activities in the region, while serving as a viable opportunity for ASEAN countries to speed up the setting up of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

Liow said he and Yang also discussed the ongoing underwater search operations for MH370, the missing Malaysian airliner. He said the operations remain a top priority for the government in collaboration with China and Australia.

He said Malaysia was grateful to China, which continued to make available valuable assets and resources for the search effort.

"Its survey vessel Zhu Khezhen also collaborated in the survey operations to gather data from the seafloor, which was utilized for mapping the terrain of the search area, which is a clear reflection of the strength of Malaysia-China ties," he said.

Liow said the ongoing search that involved a comprehensive exploration of the seafloor had covered more than 7,000 square kilometers.