November 4, 2009                                 

Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Malaysian Minister for Agriculture and Agro Based Industry, Dato' Haji Noh Bin Omar reached an understanding that Malaysia showed keen interest to import rice and cows from Pakistan in a meeting held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Tuesday (Nov 3).

Qureshi offered a steady and consistent supply of frozen beef and mutton to Malaysia. He said that Pakistan being a meat eating Muslim country had a world class mechanism set in place for processing and packaging of halal beef and mutton.

Malaysia could benefit by importing beef and mutton from Pakistan to overcome supply shortage, Qureshi said.

The Foreign Minister said that Malaysia could also collaborate with Pakistan in milk and milk products, as Pakistan was one of the largest producers of milk in the world that it could supply fresh milk and milk based products to Malaysia in large quantities.

Qureshi also offered the services of Pakistan's workforce and technical know-how in veterinary and livestock sector to assist Malaysia to raise its own livestock.

Pakistan could also provide Malaysia "Sahiwal Cow" and "Nili Ravi" buffalo, which have excellent milk producing ability, Qureshi said.

The Malaysian Minister agreed on the proposals of the Foreign Minister, by saying that Malaysia was keen to import animals from Pakistan.