PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching hosted a private dinner last night at Sentosa Cove for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

The dinner kicked off a two-day leaders' retreat for Datuk Seri Najib and PM Lee.

Today, bilateral talks will start in earnest.

The agenda for this year's retreat, which marks the 50th anniversary of Singapore-Malaysia ties, is likely to focus on the planned high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Singapore has said it will announce the location of its high-speed rail terminal at this retreat. Three sites have been shortlisted: Jurong East, Tuas West and the city centre.

Malaysia is siting its terminus within the Bandar Malaysia project, which will transform the old Sungei Besi area - 3km from Kuala Lumpur's financial district - into a dynamic, connected township.

This is the sixth retreat for the two premiers.

These regular meetings have yielded major agreements in recent years.

It was at the 2013 retreat that the high-speed rail link, which will cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes by 2020, was announced.

PM Lee also posted on his Facebook on Tuesday a photo taken at the dinner.

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