Malaysian prime minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is on an official visit to Bahrain, hopes to strengthen cooperation with the Gulf state in emerging financial technologies and the sandbox platform.

Although cryptocurrency is currently not legal tender in Malaysia, sandbox technology protects host devices and operating systems while cryptocurrency is a digital form of payment created by using encryption algorithms.

However, the finer details are being worked out between the two countries which celebrated their 50th anniversary of bilateral ties in November last year heralding a long-standing diplomatic relationship.

Anwar expressed optimism that there was a lot of room for growth between the two countries as Malaysia’s total exports to Bahrain increased by 17.4 percent to RM251.2 million compared to RM214 million in 2023.

Industry sources commented that the increase was mainly due to the higher exports of transport equipment to Bahrain which was based on data obtained from the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade).

Anwar who met with the top brass of Bahrain told Malaysian reporters that total trade between Malaysia and Bahrain expanded to RM1.19 billion in 2024, compared with RM1.5 billion in 2023 and was poised for further growth this year.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE