We came to learn from you, Pakistan PM tells Mahathir
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PUTRAJAYA: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan today expressed admiration for his Malaysian counterpart Dr Mahathir Mohamad, saying this was one of the reasons he had brought his delegation to the country.
Imran, who is on his first official visit to Malaysia since coming into power in July, also voiced interest in learning from Mahathir how to transform the economy.
“I look to you, as a statesman and someone who transformed the country,” he said at a joint press conference with Mahathir at the Prime Minister’s Office here.
“We have followed Malaysia’s progress since you came into office. We want to learn from your experience, how you transformed the economy and developed it, how you raised the per capita income and gross domestic product.
“We wanted to come here at the first opportunity to learn from your past experience.”
Imran had earlier held a meeting with Mahathir and attended a delegation meeting after that.
The cricket legend noted the similarities between the Pakistan and Malaysian governments, giving the example of how they had secured the people’s mandate on an anti-corruption platform.
“We faced similar situations such as unprecedented debt. There was a lot to share. We wanted to talk to you about dealing with the crisis and how to come out of it.”
He said they had also exchanged news on trade, adding that there was huge untapped potential for tourism in Pakistan.
“Malaysia has developed tourism resorts which we want to do in Pakistan. We have tourism spots but no resorts,” he added.
Imran, who is the nation’s 22nd prime minister, also invited Mahathir to attend the country’s Pakistan Day celebrations as a chief guest on March 23.
“We hope to further strengthen our contact and relations with Malaysia,” he said.
Earlier in the press conference, Mahathir said this was the first time he was receiving a leader on an official visit to Malaysia.
The Pakatan Harapan chairman said Malaysia and Pakistan had enjoyed a long bilateral relationship, including on trade.
“We find that we have problems that are similar. At the meeting with the Pakistan prime minister, we discussed these issues as well as ways and means of tackling them.
“We will continue to have dialogues in order to learn from each other’s experiences and ways of tackling the problems.”
He said they had also discussed many common topics during the delegation meeting such as foreign direct investments, how to turn companies around, the role of Khazanah Holdings Bhd and privatisation, tourism and food.
“We also would like to take up Pakistan’s wish to be a dialogue partner in the Asean group as well as some other matters on mutual defence cooperation,” he added.
Imran, who arrived in Malaysia last night for a two-day official visit, was earlier accorded an official welcome at Perdana Square. His trip to Malaysia follows his official visit to China early last month.
