Japanese PM to visit Malaysia

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to visit Malaysia on Thursday as part of his tour to Southeast Asia, which also include Singapore and the Philippines.

Malaysian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Abe is scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak "to discuss and exchange views on bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of common interest."

"A way forward of the Look East Policy will also be discussed by both prime ministers with focus on economic expansion which is in tandem with the priorities of both countries," the statement said.

Japan is one of the leading major trading partners for Malaysia with total trade amounted to 47.03 billion U.S. dollars in 2012. In terms of investment, Japan was the largest investor in Malaysia for the period between 1980 -- 2012 with total investments worth 22 billion U.S. dollars.

It will be Abe's second visit to Malaysia in his capacity as premier. He took office for a second time in December, and his Liberal Democratic Party has just ended the "Twisted Diet" in Japan after a victory in the upper house elections with allies on Sunday.

Abe's visit came shortly after Japan formally joined the U.S. led Trans-Pacific Pa rtnership (TPP) agreement negotiations in Malaysia's resort city of Kota Kinabalu. He is expected to meet with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during the visit to Singapore.