Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Monday in Shanghai that China has become an economic center of the world, and Malaysian companies should catch the business opportunities brought with China's economic growth.

Badawi made the remarks at a China-Malaysia business luncheon, at which he encouraged the Malaysian companies to expand cooperation with their Chinese partners.

Badawi said the cooperation in the fields of energy, high-technology and agricultural product and food processing will be the focus of future economic and trade cooperation between Malaysia and China.

Badawi and his party arrived here Sunday and had a meeting with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng on Sunday night.

During the meeting, both sides hoped to further strengthen trade and economic cooperation between Malaysia and Shanghai, and agreed that Shanghai will play an important role in promoting energy cooperation between Malaysia and China.

During his stay in Shanghai, Badawi also attended a ceremony to mark the completion of a project of a China-Malaysia joint-venture which will produce petroleum steel-pipe, and visited the Pudong New District and Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai.

Badawi and his party finished the China visit and left Shanghai on Monday afternoon.