SYDNEY/KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Reuters) – Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday that state energy firm Petronas would give priority to providing Australia with its excess fuel supplies, as the two countries sought to bolster energy security following the disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.
Anwar said he had obtained an assurance from Petronas on the matter following discussions with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on boosting agricultural and fuel trade.
“The priority is for domestic requirements… but here is where negotiations among friends are critical,” Anwar said at a press conference after the meeting at his office in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya.
Malaysia also requires mineral phosphates from Australia, which it could offer in exchange for urea supplied to Canberra, Anwar said.
Malaysia is Albanese’s third stop in Southeast Asia in the past week, following trips to Singapore and Brunei, as Canberra looks to shore up food and energy supplies.
Albanese said his government had secured an additional 100 million litres of diesel from two shipments, one from Brunei and one from South Korea.
“This is the first of many expected shipments secured under the government’s new strategic reserve powers with the support of Export Finance Australia,” he said.
Australia also pledged to honour existing contracts with Malaysia, despite disruptions, Albanese said.
Australia is a major supplier of natural gas to Malaysia, which imports about 20% of its domestic supplies, as well as a provider of wheat, lamb and beef products.
Anwar and Albanese also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries on halal meat trade, a deal that the Australian leader said would boost the country’s red meat exports and support Malaysia’s food security.
Majority-Muslim Malaysia is widely considered as a global leader in halal processing due to its established certification standards.
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney and Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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