Afghanistan Keen To Engage In More Educational Activities With Malaysia

By Tengku Faizah Tengku Yusof KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- Afghanistan is keen to engage in more activities with Malaysia's educational sector, which is an essential sector to boost the country’s growth, said Afghanistan Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Jamrad Jamshed. He said Afghanistan hoped to send more students to Malaysia and in this aspect, both countries have had very encouraging discussions on the matter. In a recent interview with Bernama, the envoy described Malaysia as the best country to send Afghan students to. “Malaysia is an Islamic country with a high standard of educational level and we have very good and friendly relations with Malaysia and its people,” he added. Jamshed said currently, some 600 Afghans were studying at Malaysian local and private universities, with the majority pursuing engineering, technology, economic and Islamic studies. He said most of the students were provided with the Afghan Government’s scholarships and pursued studies at three major universities - International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). The ambassador said that after graduating, the students could help Afghanistan’s growth in sectors like economy, as well as provide political stability to this landlocked country of some 31 million people, located in Central Asia. Apart from education, he said that Afghanistan also hoped for a direct flight between Kabul and Kuala Lumpur to encourage the tourism sector, pointing out that Afghanistan had many tourism attractions such as Islamic and Buddhism civilisations, as well as historical places and monuments. Jamshed said negotiations on the possibility of a direct flight between both countries were in progress. ”We hope to see the result of this discussion, by the end of the year," he added. Currently, airlines servicing Afganistan include Air India, Emirates, Gulf Air, Pakistan International Airlines and Turkish Airlines. On diplomatic relations, Jamrad hoped a Malaysian embassy could be set up in Afghanistan as the country currently had a new government and new political situation. "As Malaysia is highly respected by Afghan people, it is very important for us to strengthen the relations to a greater level. "Our relations with Islamic countries is more important for us as we have very positive and high level relations with Islamic countries," he said. Currently, Afghanistan is under the auspices of the Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi. --BERNAMA