PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will explore cooperation opportunities on smart city and technology investment with China, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

She said the cooperation areas would be stated in her six-day official working visit to China starting today.

She said she and a team from the Federal Territories Department will be visiting three main cities in China, namely Hangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

“The visit to Hangzhou follows a series of collaborations through the Letter of Intent between Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Hangzhou Municipal Government that was signed in April regarding the KL20 project.

“God willing, I am scheduled to meet with Mayor Yao Gaoyuan, the Mayor of Hangzhou in a lunch which will be hosted by him to discuss more in depth the areas of collaboration,“ she said in a post on her official Facebook page today.

In Shanghai, Zaliha said the visit would focus on the potential of ‘twin city’ cooperation between Putrajaya and Shanghai which had been presented to the Cabinet previously.

The delegation which also involved Putrajaya Corporation president Datuk Fadhlun Mak Ujud will exchange expertise related to the smart city concept since Shanghai is ahead in that aspect.

“Lastly in Shengzhen, our focus is more focused on cooperation with ‘prominent industry players’ in the field of technology such as Huawei,“ she said.

She said recently, Huawei has expressed its intention to invest in Labuan in smart city technology.

“Apart from Huawei, we will also discuss with other technology conglomerates such as Tencent, BYD and Baidu to find a collaboration space with them.

“It is hoped this visit will bear fruits and attract more potential companies to invest either in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya or Labuan,“ she said.