A stream of Chinese tourists are ushered from their bus to a zinc-roofed stall in downtown Kuala Lumpur. They don plastic gloves and sit waiting eagerly for the stall owner to bring over the pungent durian fruit for them to devour, which they eagerly do.

Stopping by a stall like this or visiting a durian farm have become an essential part of the travel itinerary for Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia.

But until now, if Chinese wanted to taste fresh Malaysian durian then they actually had to come to Malaysia to do so. That's because China doesn't permit the importation of fresh durian from here, only the frozen flesh of the prized fruit.

Following Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's visit to China last month that should change.

Feasting on fresh Malaysian durian is a must for Chinese tourists. /CGTN Photo

Much of the media attention on that trip focused on Mahathir's visit to Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou and meeting with Jack Ma and his meetings with China’s president and prime minister.

There was also focus on some China-backed deals that Malaysia wished to cancel, including a multi-billion-US dollar rail project.

Less noticed was a handful of memorandums of understanding on boosting agricultural collaboration signed in the presence of Mahathir and Premier Li Keqiang. One of which would allow Malaysia to export fresh durians to China.

Irene Leong, who owns an organic durian farm on the outskirts of the captial, welcomes the move.

Rubber tapping is a tedious, labor-intensive process. /CGTN Photo

"This is very exciting news," she says. Durian plantations are a big investment, with growers having to wait five years for their first fruit.

"Knowing that this biggest market in the world will be able to absorb and consume the fruits that we are going to plant and going to harvest, it will give a lot more confidence and excitement to the farmers in Malaysia to actually make their durian plantations on a bigger scale."

Mahathir has even suggested it could help durian become a major export commodity for Malaysia like palm oil, and rubber already are.

The two countries also signed MoUs aiming to boost collaboration in both these sectors as well.

The Malaysian Rubber Board signed two bilateral MoUs with Hainan State Farms, a Chinese government corporation, the rubber board’s chairman Sankara Nair explained.

"Our MoU grants them technology for rubberised roads, we call them, and in return, the other MoU between them and us is for automation of rubber tapping and they are quite advanced in their research," Nair said.

Automating the tedious process of slicing the tree bark to start the flow of latex could boost the Malaysian rubber industry, which is worth 10 billion US dollars a year, with China by far the biggest buyer.

"Manual labour is not effective cost wise, so we need to get more automation to lower the cost of production."

The two countries aim to collaborate on palm biofuel research. /CGTN Photo

For it’s part, the Hainan company is getting Malaysia's technology for making rubberized bitumen roads. 

"Hainan State Farms have the intention to use this technology all over China for their next road building programme," Nair says. And it could potentially be expanded for use overseas too under China's Belt and Road initiative, he added.

Malaysia's number one commodity, palm oil, should also get a boost from another set of deals in the making.

Durian farmers are hoping they'll soon be able to export the fresh fruit to China. /CGTN Photo

The two countries are looking to work together on research and development into palm oil-based biofuel, as well as on the health benefits of vitamins and nutrients derived from the oil such as the form of Vitamin E called tocotrienols, and on developing specialized oils and fats.

China is already a big user of Malaysian palm oil, behind only India and the EU. Palm oil may not excite Chinese consumer -- or taste bud -- the way that durian does, but a deal that could increase demand for Malaysian palm oil, rubber and durian would be nothing to sniff at.

Durian farmer Leong feels there could be indirect benefits too from opening Chinese market to fresh Malaysian durian imports. Once Chinese consumers taste the fruit, she believes they will yearn for more and also to try it plucked straight from the tree. And that, Leong says, should help boost Chinese tourism to Malaysia as well.