Japan urged to partner Malaysia in tapping Islamic finance market: PM

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today urged Japan to partner Malaysia in engaging in Islamic finance-related activities and tap the huge global market. With Japanese industrial expertise and technology, and Malaysia’s technical expertise in Islamic finance, he said there was an opportunity to establish a formidable alliance. On a much larger scale, he said that in late 2013, China announced the plan to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or AIIB, and currently has 57 charter members and a paid-up capital of US$50 billion.He added that Malaysia understands and respects that Japan has reservations over the AIIB, but regardless of the vehicle, it is apparent that Asian countries need to invest in tangible infrastructure assets.