PUTRAJAYA (Sept 10): Malaysia will develop a centre of excellence in education and training for youth from developing and post-war countries.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said the countries to be selected include Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Timor Leste.

Zambry said the matter was agreed upon in a bilateral meeting with the Asean and East Asian Economic Studies Institute (Eria) president Professor Tetsuya Watanabe and World Bank Group lead trade specialist Dr Roberto Echandi, during  Zambry’s visit to Switzerland from Sept 6 to 9.

“This is a great recognition for the country, for getting the mandate to develop the centre,” he said in a statement here on Tuesday.

At the same time, Zambry said it was one of the Ministry of Higher Education’s (KPT) efforts to provide the people of the countries concerned with the best access to higher education, in order to serve their respective countries.

Zambry said Malaysia welcomed the proposal, in line with KPT’s focus on internationalising higher education.

“At the initial stage, the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (Ikmas) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) will be the coordinator for related programmes, in making this initiative a success,” he said.

Zambry, who was on a four-day visit to Switzerland at the invitation of the World Trade Institute (WTI), also had several bilateral meetings and discussions, and delivered keynote speeches in an effort to strengthen cooperation and the internationalisation of higher education.

He said the visit to Switzerland had yielded results and further strengthened bilateral relations and strategic cooperation, in making the best talent development agenda and the internationalisation of higher education a success.

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