Any effort to unite the people in the country should also give priority to strengthening racial integration, says Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup.

He said national integration was an important element in the process of building a nation state as it could help preserving Malaysia's stability and development.

"Knowledge and exposure to each other's culture are important to the multi-racial people in the country to get to know each other.

"Integration and understanding of this cross-cultural concept should be a priority for us to co-exist in harmony," he said when opening the 2017 Merdeka Fiesta Programme at the Asia Pacific University (APU) here tonight.

The programme co-organised by the Rukun Negara Secretariat under the Prime Minister's Department and the APU was aimed at nurturing and boosting patriotism among the students.

-- BERNAMA