Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his visiting Malaysiancounterpart Najib Razak said in a joint statement on May 5 that theyare pleased with the significant progress in the bilateral relations ofthe two countries.

During the AnnualSingapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat, the two sides signed a wide rangeof agreements in the fields of customs, disaster management and urbandevelopment. They also agreed to strengthen their partnership in defenceand security, vocational training, tourism, environment and culture.

The leaders reaffirmed the steady progress of theKuala Lumpur – Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project, started in 2013,and said it is a game-changing initiative which will enhanceconnectivity and facilitate the movement of people and goods between thetwo nations.

Singapore has decided that theterminus for the HSR in the country will be located at Jurong East inthe Jurong Lake District in the hope to turn the location into itssecond Central Business District in the future, Prime Minister Lee said.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has determined that its fiveterminals will be on Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Melaka, Muar, Batu Pahatand Nusajaya.

The two prime ministers also concededthat a new deadline is needed for the project, as its complexity meansthat it won’t be finished by 2020 as scheduled.

Theconstruction of HSR will take approximately five years while the initialdesign and tender process will take another one year each, PrimeMinister Najib predicted.

The next leaders’ retreat, to be held in 2016, will take place in Malaysia.-VNA