Malaysia's national news agency Bernama announced in Kuala Lumpur Thursday that it has opened a bureau in Beijing, capital of China, a major step towards its international expansion.

Bernama General Manager Syed Jamil Jaafar said here that Bernama eyed the importance of China as it opened its office in Beijing under a news coverage expansion program.

With the opening of the office, Bernama hopes to provide better news services on news and information about China and the huge market that it offers.

Syed Jamil said Bernama was strengthening its domestic operations, while expanding overseas slowly to provide a more comprehensive coverage on regional and world news.

As globalization takes place, Bernama had to go global or be left behind, he noted.

China's Ambassador to Malaysia Wang Chungui congratulated on Bernama's opening of its office in Beijing, saying that Bernama's reporting from China would help further promote bilateral relations between China and Malaysia.

Wang hoped that this would also help further promote the understanding between the peoples of China and Malaysia.

This is the fourth overseas office opened by Bernama, which already has three bureaus respectively in Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, Bernama Editor-in-Chief Azman Ujang said.

The Malaysian national news agency also has reporters in Melbourne, Washington, London, Bonn, Colombo, he said.

After the opening of its Beijing office, Bernama plans to install two more offices respectively in New Delhi, India, and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Bernama currently has 500 staff members and provides news and information services in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Arabic to newspapers, news agencies, magazines and other subscribers. It also produces television news bulletins.

Source: Xinhua