Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: Nation

Najib, Cameron hold talks in London
Rains bring some relief from haze
Global fund managers urged to take advantage of M'sian capital market

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 06:43 AM PDT

Published: Thursday July 14, 2011 MYT 9:33:00 PM
Updated: Thursday July 14, 2011 MYT 9:43:16 PM

LONDON: Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his British counterpart David Cameron held talks at No. 10 Downing Street here Thursday as the two historically-linked countries moved to bring bilateral relations a notch higher.

The meeting was held in conjunction with Najib's four-day offial visit to the UK at the invitation of Cameron.

The two leaders held talks soon after Najib's arrival at the famed address in central London on a rather chilly day despite summer being in full swing.

But Najib was greeted warmly by Cameron, both of whom shook hands and posed for photographers and videographers before moving inside for their tete-a-tete followed by a luncheon hosted by the British prime minister.

Earlier, Najib was met on arrival at the UK's Foreign and Commowealth Affairs Office by UK's Secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs William Hague, before walking a short distance to 10 Downing Street.

Prior to that, Najib was joined by his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor during an audience with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the British monarch.

During the leaders meeting, Malaysia and the UK also signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at curbing transborder crimes.

Malaysia was represented Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein while the UK by its Home Secretary Teresa May. The Malaysian leader also attended a high tea hosted by Hague. - Bernama

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Rains bring some relief from haze

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 06:24 AM PDT

PETALING JAYA: The rain brought much-needed respite from the thick haze that has blanketed the skies over the last few days.

Although the haze was still present, many areas recorded improved air quality, thanks to rains and thunderstorms experienced in many states Thursday.

As of 5pm, only 28 areas (54%) recorded moderate Air Pollutant Index (API) readings while the remaining 23 had healthy readings. This was an improvement from Wednesday which saw 31 areas with moderate air quality readings and Ipoh with an unhealthy API of 139.

(A good API reading is from 0-50, moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-299) and hazardous (from 300 and above).

According to the Department of Environment, readings for their Jalan Tasek station in Ipoh dropped to an API of 60 by 5pm compared with 139 the day before.

The Meteorological Department has forecast more rain or thunderstorm in most states for Friday.

However, the haze is far from over as forest fires are still raging in Central Sumatra, More hazy days are expected as this is generally a dry season despite the occasional rain. The southwest monsoon ends in September.

According to the latest regional hazemap, scattered hotspots with smoke plumes continued to be detected over central Sumatra.

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Global fund managers urged to take advantage of M'sian capital market

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 06:13 AM PDT

LONDON: Global fund managers have been called on to take advantage of various opportunities arising from developments in Malaysia's capital market.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, addressing the capital market roundtable organised on the third day of his official visit to the United Kingdom, said a developed capital market had a significant role to assume in Malaysia's quest to become a developed nation by 2020.

"All of you here today as global fund managers have the expertise we need and all of you can play a meaningful role in helping us achieve our future success," said Najib, who is Finance Minister, Thursday.

Najib said Malaysia today had one of the most comprehensive capital markets in the region, with its combined equity and debt markets having grown to US$667bil (RM2tril) in 2010, from US$240bil (RM720bil) in 2000.

It is projected to triple to between US$1.5tril (RM4.5tril) and US$1.9tril (RM5.7tril) in 2020.

He said the country's Economic Transformation Programme would create further momentum for growth and open up opportunities for issuers, intermediaries and investors.

Najib pointed out to the most senior members of some of London's leading financial institutions that Malaysia had a broad and diverse economy on which to build its capital market.

"Historical trends suggest that as Malaysia's capital market achieves maturity, growth in the debt and derivative markets will outpace growth in the equity market," he said.

He said, in particular, Malaysia was likely to replicate the pattern in developed markets where institutional funds rapidly outgrew the economy.

Touching on opportunities in Islamic finance, Najib told his audience that Malaysia was home to the world's largest Islamic banking and financial market, accounting for 66% of global sukuk issuance last year, and has 184 funds with US$8bil (RM24bil) in assets under management.

"Over the next 10 years, our Islamic capital market is set to triple in value," he said.

Later in the day, Najib attended a high tea hosted by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague.

The Prime Minister also toured the St Pancras International Railway Station and had a roundtable with UK rail companies focusing on rail construction and regeneration. - Bernama

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Khamis, 14 Julai 2011