China and Malaysia signed five agreements on expanding cooperation in trade and investment as Chinese President Hu Jintao and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak met in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday morning.

President Hu and Prime Minister Najib attended the signing ceremony of the documents on bilateral cooperation after their meeting.

The agreements include a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between China Banking Regulatory Commission and Bank Begara Malaysia on banking supervision cooperation.

Najib said the signing of the agreements marked the entry of bilateral cooperation in the financial sector into a new era.

"It is especially meaningful in view of the global economic challenge and ever deeper cooperation between the two economies," Najib said.

During their meeting, Hu said Malaysia was China's largest trading partner among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trade volume between the two countries topped 53 billion U.S. dollars last year.

He said the two countries were ushering in a new era of all-round development of bilateral relations. He put forward several suggestions on advancing the strategic and cooperative ties between China and Malaysia to a new level.

Hu said the two countries should deepen trade and economic cooperation, fully use the favorable conditions of the China-ASEAN free trade zone, to be accomplished next year, and promote the steady growth of bilateral trade.

Hu also said the two countries should promote two-way investment and step up cooperation in the energy, resources and financial sectors.

Najib said China had become the largest trading partner of Malaysia in September, overtaking other countries in the region.

He said the two countries still had enormous potential to expand trade and economic cooperation, adding that Malaysia was ready to expand exchanges and cooperation with China in such areas as trade, investment, finance, energy, agriculture, fishery, education and tourism.

Hu is in Kuala Lumpur for a state visit to Malaysia. Later in the day, he will leave for Singapore for a state visit and attend an informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, scheduled for Nov. 14-15.

(Xinhua, November 11, 2009 )