BEIJING: Doors are opening wide for the Malaysian businesses in China due to the amicable ties between the nations and leaders of both countries, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Najib - who is concluding his five-day working visit to China on Monday - said that many Malaysian entrepreneurs and corporate figures took the opportunity to be here to have business discussions with the Chinese.

"It is as if they now have the key to open doors that were tricky to access in the past because of certain obstacles. Things are easier now as the Chinese have taken the cue and read the signals from the top level," Najib told Malaysian reporters.

At the meeting between Najib and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on Saturday, Xi had commented that the diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia are now at a "historic high".

Najib said while the exact value of these business negotiations on the sideline of his working trip were difficult to assess, the Malaysian businesses were very excited with the abundance of opportunities.

Officially, Malaysia signed nine business-to-business memorandums of understanding (MoU) with a total value of US$7.22bil (RM31.26bil).

Prior to arriving in Beijing, Najib was in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province to meet Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

Ma will be coming to Malaysia in October to launch the e-fulfilment centre of the Digital Free Trade Zone.

"Everywhere I go, doors are open as wide as possible for us to have all sorts of economic ties and business arrangements. This is possible because of the government efforts and the trust and confidence we have built so far. Hopefully this will translate into benefits for the business community and the people as a whole," said Najib.

He added that this is why it is important to have strategic relations with China.

Najib said Malaysia is now able to harvest the fruits of China’s Belt and Road initiative such as the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) because Malaysia was an early supporter of the initiative

"Once it is implemented and institutionalised, the ECRL will boost the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the east coast by 1.5%.During the construction of period, thousands of jobs will be created. We are also in the process of launching training programmes for those involved, including technicians and suppliers," Najib said.

Commenting on the two-day Belt and Road International Forum, Najib said the mega initiative would forge connectivity between China and Asia, Europe, East Africa and South America.

"This is just the beginning. There are only 29 leaders at the forum this time. But as success breeds success, there will be more and more countries joining as time goes on," he said.

Besides the 29 heads of states and high-level officials from over 100 countries, representatives from European Union and international institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the World Bank were present to show their endorsement and support.

Meanwhile, Xi stressed in his opening speech that the Belt and Road initiative champions shared prosperity with win-win solutions geared towards world peace, Najib said.

“Traditionally, it used to be the west exporting capital to the east, setting up factories and the people in the east are workers. But now it is the east exporting capital to the west, creating jobs, bringing along technology and providing markets. There is a paradigm shift in world economic order," said Xi.