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SINGAPORE: Singapore-Malaysia ties are set to be further strengthened when the Prime Ministers of both countries meet for their first retreat on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi on Monday.
The retreat will be an opportunity for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to discuss possible new areas of cooperation and build on the long-standing close ties between the two countries.
The foreign ministers of both countries have said bilateral ties are getting better.
And, political watchers and business leaders Channel NewsAsia spoke to are upbeat about the latest bilateral developments.
They note that Mr Abdullah has been working on improving ties with Singapore ever since he came into office.
K Kesavapany, the Director at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies who was the former High Commissioner to Malaysia, said: "When I was in Kuala Lumpur from 1997 to 2002, every time there was a hiccup, my colleagues used to look at me and shook their heads. The two countries could quarrel so openly. Not only in Kuala Lumpur, even as far as New York, Tokyo.....places where investment decisions are made, people were wondering whether it was judicious and wise to go and do investments in places where the relationship was topsy-turvy.
"Now, they are seeing a situation where both governments are creating conditions for FDI (foreign direct investment), for transfer of technology and new investments to come in. So this will benefit the region.
"The other point is that both Malaysia and Singapore are the leading economies in ASEAN. So, if we cooperate, we could be the locomotives for driving this promise of an ASEAN economic community by 2015. There are a lot of areas to be discussed and that's why both sides have decided to engage in this retreat-type of exercise.
"Nothing is preordained or preconceived in advance. So you make progress where you can; in areas where you cannot make progress, leave it aside to be dealt with at a later stage."
Political observers say one advantage of the retreat-style meeting is that there is no fixed agenda of issues to be discussed.
In fact, also accompanying PM Lee are several Singapore Ministers.
So, the retreat meeting will give them an opportunity to touch base with their Malaysian counterparts and to further talk about enhancing cooperation between the ministries of both countries.
The leaders are expected to discuss Malaysia's plans for the Iskandar Development Region.
The Malaysian government has invited Singapore companies to take part in the project and the Singapore Business Federation believes local businessmen can benefit from it.
Stephen Lee, President of Singapore Business Federation, said: "We have some wishes. If the cross-border movement of goods and people can be made easier, that will be one. The second is: if there can be some relaxation on the ownership issues of Malaysian companies and indeed if they can make it easier for Singaporeans to set up companies, these will all help.
"Malaysia has a vision to turn the IDR into a hub for medicine, finance and for education. I think that, in itself, offers quite a lot of opportunities for our services companies, and taking advantage of Johor's more competitive cost and bigger land.
"At the same time, I see that (among) the more labour-intensive industries in Singapore, some are also moving to Batam. So this forms a very nice growth triangle between Johor, Singapore and the Riau islands," he added.
Private meetings aside, delegations to the retreat are also due to go on a short cruise around Langkawi. - CNA/ir
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