PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad met his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan here on Wednesday as the two leaders pledged for cooperation.

At a press conference following a brief meeting, the two leaders said they had discussed several topics of mutual interest especially on anti-corruption and tourism.

"We have had a long relationship. We have some similar problems and we will continue dialogue to discuss solutions. We discussed foreign direct investments, privatization, tourism and food," Mahathir said.

Mahathir also said that Khan had sought his help in making Pakistan a dialogue partner with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the two countries would continue their mutual defense cooperation.

In Khan's first visit to Malaysia since becoming prime minister in August, he said he was eager to learn of Malaysia's efforts at combating corruption.

"Both of us are in similar situations as we both came to power on an anti-corruption platform with high national debt," Khan said.

Khan also said that Pakistan was keen to develop its potential for tourism and looked to Malaysia for help with developing tourist resorts.

"We have many tourist spots but not many resorts. We want to learn from your experience to raise our own gross domestic product (GDP) and our per capita income," he added.