Kuala Lumpur, Sep 6 (IANS): Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his visiting Australian counterpart Tony Abbot Saturday said that the two countries would continue their cooperation in dealing with the tragedies of Malaysia Airlines flights MH370 and MH17.

Najib expressed his gratitude for Australia's help in the search for MH370, saying the two countries would continue to work together to locate the aircraft which went missing March 8 while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board, Xinhua reported.

Abbot said a new search would start in two weeks' time.

On the cost of the search for MH370, he said Malaysia and Australia would contribute $56 million each.

Abbot said it would be the intention of the Australian government to erect a monument on its western coastline in memory of those on board the MH370, but it would be guided by the wishes of Malaysia and the families of the victims.

As to the downing of MH17 in Ukraine July 17, Najib said the intelligence reports on MH17 were "pretty conclusive", and Malaysia and the international investigation teams were working to assemble the physical evidence.

Najib said once the physical evidence assembling process was finished, the criminal side of the incident would be looked into to find out who was responsible for the crime.

He said Malaysia demanded a full, independent and transparent international investigation into the incident.

Najib also said it was important for Malaysia and Australia to work together in the follow-up process of recovering other remains of the MH17 victims, investigating the air crash and ensuring criminal investigation.