KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 :
The transport ministry is preparing a joint cabinet paper with the
defence and foreign ministries on the outcome of a tripartite
ministerial meeting between Malaysia, Australia and China in Australia,
to be tabled this Wednesday.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri
Hishamuddin Tun Hussein said the cabinet paper, among others, would put
forward suggestions by the tripartite meeting on the new search phase
for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 that has gone
missing on March 8.
The new phase of search included an
analysis and refinement of the Inmarsat satellite data and the mapping
of the seabed in the southern Indian Ocean, where the flight was
believed to have ended, he told reporters after receiving a courtesy
call from Australian Navy Chief Vice Admiral Ray Griggs at Wisma
Pertahanan here today.
“The report will also, among others,
include the deployment of assets, which have specific capabilities for
the search mission,” he added.
The Tripartite Ministerial Meeting was
held at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra on May 5 between
Hishammuddin, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and Chinese
Transport Minister Yang Chuangtang, which among others were to discuss
on the new phase of search for MH370.
Flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am for Beijing, China on March 8 before going off the radar an hour later.
On March 24,
17 days after the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft has gone missing, Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that flight MH370 had
ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
Hishammuddin described the recent
meeting in Australia as comprehensive, complete and most constructive
and reflected a high level of cooperation, collaboration and trust
between the three nations.
“What is important is that the meeting
in Australia (Canberra) (with the Australian deputy prime minister and
Chinese transport minister) was quite historical because it had put
aside a lot of conspiracy theories with regards to geopolitical
arguments,” he said.
“The point that we are looking at now is
on the deep sea search, on the asset that is very specialised and
sharing of (search) cost because in the past there was no talk of
dollars and cents…to be fair to our partners it is time for us to
actually look at it (cost sharing) more seriously, because it might be
for a long haul,” he said.
Commenting on the request from the
families of those on board MH370 for the government to release raw
satellite data, Hishammuddin said it was better for the International
Panel of Experts to decide which information should be made public.
Earlier Griggs and his delegation paid a
courtesy call on Malaysian Armed Forces Chief General Tan Sri Zulkifeli
Mohd Zin and Royal Malaysian Navy Chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz
Jaafar.- BERNAMA
Post a Comment