Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Tokyo on Tuesday and agreed to strengthen cooperation in a number of areas, including a crackdown on high-seas piracy and opening an international engineering college in Malaysia in 2009, an official said.

During the 40-minute meeting, Abe told Badawi, here to attend an international symposium, that he would visit Malaysia in August to enhance bilateral ties, according to the official, who was at the meeting.

Abdullah told Abe he was particularly interested in Japanese technology to convert palm oil to diesel fuel and asked for more cooperation in scientific research into this area.