KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is grateful for the assistance and friendship of the US government over the years and pledges to continue maintaining cordial bilateral relations, says Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

       He said on a country-to-country level, Malaysia and the United States have established bilateral ties since 1957.

       He added that the United States remains one of Malaysia’s largest trading partners and Malaysia is one of the United States’ long-time and closest allies in military, investment, economic and education cooperation.

       “We are thankful for all assistance rendered by the United States of America to Malaysia and Sabah in the field of education, nature conservation and, most recently, in the Covid-19 pandemic fight,” Hajiji said during a virtual call with the US Ambassador to Malaysia, Brian D. McFeeters, on Monday.

       The United States recently donated one million doses of vaccines to Malaysia and pledged additional Covid-19 assistance to the Malaysian Red Crescent. Hajiji also welcomed the ambassador’s pledge of US$1mil (RM4.2mil) for Sabah’s wildlife conservation efforts.

       Hajiji and McFeeters spoke on a wide range of issues, including the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), human trafficking, illegal immigrants, and the US Embassy’s longstanding cooperation with Universiti Malaysia Sabah against counter-terrorism and violent extremism.