Singapore - Singapore and Malaysia will jointly study the possibility of an urban between the two neighbours, the city-state`s foreign minister said Thursday.
They agreed that a joint ministerial committee will explore the possibility of the link, Singapore`s Foreign Minister George Yeo told reporters.
Yeo was speaking during the first working visit to Singapore by Malaysia`s new Foreign Minister Rais Yatim.
Rais raised the train link proposal during his talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who responded "positively", Yeo said.
"So this is for the joint ministerial committee to take up and the link should not be a difficult one and it will bring immediate advantages to both sides," he said.
Malaysia`s government in 2006 received a private proposal from Malaysian property and utility firm YTL Corp for a high-speed train link between the two countries.
Singapore announced in January that its public train system will be extended to Woodlands and Tuas, two border crossing points to Malaysia.
There is already a road link across causeways between the two countries, as well as a Malaysian long-distance passenger rail service.
Rais was named to the new cabinet of Malaysia`s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last month after the country`s ruling coalition suffered unprecedented election losses.
Rais replaced the long-time foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar.
Bilateral ties have often been stormy since Singapore was ejected from the Malaysian Federation in 1965 over ethnic issues, but they have undergone a marked improvement since Abdullah came into office in 2003.
Source: malaysia.news (18 April 2008)