PUTRAJAYA: Both Malaysia and Singapore are waiting to finalise projects involving the Johor-Singapore financial and economic zones, and the Johor-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) link.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said both he and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong had discussed this in their hour-long meeting at Seri Perdana today.
"Wong is quite concerned on how we will proceed with the RTS, and he also mentioned (about) the economic zone. We are just waiting to finalise this.
"I would even drop in to Singapore to meet potential investors to encourage them, but we have to get the parameters and issues resolved.
"And from the initial briefing by (Economy Minister) Rafizi Ramli and (International Trade and Industry Minister) Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, it seems that we are very close to a final agreement."
Anwar said this in a joint press conference with Wong, today.
In response, Wong said he was very excited for the potential of the Johor-Singapore economic zone, and said both Johor and Singapore have the key ingredients to make a successful one.
"The projects we have, including the RTS, are major game changers which can really tap on the complementarities between Malaysia, Johor and Singapore.
"People harp a lot on the competition between our two economies, but really, we are complementing one another, and the bigger competition is outside of Singapore and Malaysia, and outside of the region."
He said if both nations could press forward with good master planning, clear and consistent policies around the special economic zone, it would unlock massive economic benefits for both countries.
"What we are doing between Singapore and Malaysia, as well as Johor and Singapore, is in many ways what Asean ought to be doing to strengthen economic integration as one community."
"So I'm very hopeful that Malaysia and Singapore can provide a strong anchor for a stronger and more integrated Asean community," he added.
Wong arrived at Seri Perdana at about 1pm today, and headed to a four-eye meeting and lunch with Anwar.
He arrived in Malaysia for a two-day visit yesterday night. His visit was at the invitation of Anwar, and is also his first trip overseas since being sworn in as Singapore's fourth Prime Minister on May 15.
