Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman on February 17 held talks withhis Australian counterpart Julie Bishop in Putrajaya to discuss theprogress of the on-going bilateral cooperation between the twocountries, Bernama reported.

The two ministers alsotouched upon other topics, including Australia 's new governmentforeign policy which will focus on economic diplomacy and publicdiplomacy via its flagship initiative, the new Colombo Plan.

Speakingat a joint press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Bishop thesame day, Minister Anifah said Malaysia will enhance variousopportunities in business and investment with Australia after theenforcement of the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement (MAFTA) onJanuary 1, last year.

He said he welcomes moreAustralian trade missions to explore and seek the wealth of investmentopportunities in Malaysia . The country's potential areas arefinance, insurance, telecommunication and manufacturing industry.

On education, Anifah said it continues to be an integral part ofMalaysia-Australia bilateral relations, and there are currently morethan 13,000 Malaysian students pursuing higher education in Australia.

" Malaysia looks forward to encouraging moreAustralian students and researchers to study and do their research inMalaysia ," he said.

On her part, Minister Bishopsaid Australia will continue to cooperate with Malaysia intackling the issue of human trafficking and finding ways to stop theillegal activity.

She congratulated Malaysia as itwill chair the ASEAN Summit in 2015, and said that ASEAN has played animportant role in the region to overcome various issues such as thesovereignty disputes in the East Sea and other regional andinternational issues.

The Australian FM paid a two-day official visit to Malaysia on February 16-17.-VNA