KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1: Malaysia will support Pakistan’s bid for a Full Dialogue Partner of the Association of South East Asian Nations. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi held out this assurance to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during an hour-long meeting prior to the luncheon he hosted at Prime Minister House.

Pakistan is already a sectoral partner of Asean which had made its credentials for Full Dialogue Partnership very strong.

Prime Minister Aziz explained to the Malaysian leader that Pakistan was seeking increased relations with the countries and organizations of this region under its “Look East Asia” vision.

Pakistan is also seeking Malaysian support for getting membership of ASEM (Asian Europe Meeting), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and Indian Ocean Rim for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC).

The two prime ministers expressed satisfaction over the status of their bilateral relations which made significant progress in recent months. As a result of these exchanges many Pakistani workers were now getting job in Malaysia.

Many leading Malaysian companies were now engaged in various economic activities in Pakistan, particularly in telecom, real estate, information technology, construction and energy sector.

Malaysian Air was planning to increase its flights to Pakistan and a delegation would soon come here to commence flights between Lahore and Kuala Lumpur.

The two leaders discussed the need of restructuring the Organization of Islamic Conference of which Prime Minister Badawi is the current chairman.

They agreed that in view of the rapidly changing international situation, the OIC was required to play a pro-active role.

They also exchanged views on ways of removing misperception about Islam and projecting it in its true spirit as a religion of peace, harmony and tolerance, and a religion which was against terrorism and extremism in all their forms.

In this context they shared views on “enlightened moderation” advocated by President General Perez Musharraf.

Prime Minister Aziz also briefed his Malaysian counterpart and long-time friend on peace initiatives with India aimed at resolution of the core issue of Kashmir according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

In the context of Iran’s nuclear programme, Mr Aziz reiterated Pakistan’s stand against proliferation but recognized every country’s right to peaceful use of nuclear energy under the IAEA parameters. He reiterated Islamabad’s stand that the issue should be resolved through dialogue and not through use of force.

Mr Aziz updated the Malaysian premier on the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s active role in combating terrorism. The issue of UN reform and expansion of the Security Council also came up for discussion.