PUTRAJAYA, Sept 10 — Malaysia will develop a Centre of Excellence in Education and Training for youth from developing and post-war countries.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir said the countries to be selected include Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Timor Leste.

He said the matter was agreed upon in a bilateral meeting with the president of the Asean and East Asian Economic Studies Institute (ERIA), Professor Tetsuya Watanabe and Lead Trade Specialist at World Bank Group, Roberto Echandi in his visit to Switzerland from September 6 to 9.

"This is a great recognition for the country for getting the mandate to develop the centre,” he said in a statement here today.

At the same time, Zambry said it was one of the efforts of the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) in providing the best access to education to the people of the countries concerned to get higher education and serve their respective countries.

Zambry said Malaysia welcomed the proposal in line with KPT’s focus on internationalising higher education.

"At the initial stage, the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (|KMAS) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) will be the coordinator for related programmes in making this initiative a success,” he said.

Zambry who was on a four-day visit to Switzerland at the invitation of the World Trade Institute (WTI), also had several bilateral meetings and discussions as well as delivering keynote speeches in an effort to strengthen cooperation and the internationalisation of higher education.

He said the visit to Switzerland has yielded results and further strengthened bilateral relations and strategic cooperation in making the best talent development agenda and the internationalisation of higher education a success. — Bernama