Malaysia-US Sign Pact On Immigration Cooperation

By Nani Rahayu Yusof WASHINGTON DC, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and the United States on Wednesday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which paves the way for formalised collaboration between immigration authorities between both sides. Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi signed the pact with the US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. Zahid said the MoU, among others, touched on cooperation concerning the screening mechanism for visitors' entry into Malaysia. In addition, he said, it also enabled the Malaysian Immigration Department to undergo various programmes with the United States Customs Department and Border Security. Noting that transnational crime involved the movement of people and commission of crime across international borders, Zahid said this called for tightened border controls. "We need to provide our Immigration personnel with related training and capacity building programmes as well as equip them with modern and sophisticated equipment," Zahid said. In this regard, he said, there was a need to compare the best practices of other countries. He described cooperation between the two countries as critical to combat the threats of transnational crime faced by sovereign states globally. -- BERNAMA