KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 -- The government of Malaysia on Wednesday pledged that Malaysia will keep searching for the missing MH370 flight for as long as it takes.

In a MH370 press statement, Malaysia's Acting Minister of Transport Hishammuddin Hussein said "we have entered a new difficult phase which brings with it new challenges which we will overcome together."

"We also have a firm commitment, formalized by our Tripartite Agreement between Malaysia, Australia and China that the search needs to be a continuous and intensified effort," he said.

He noted that "China and Malaysia have also agreed to work closely together in the next phase of the search operation for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean."

On the technical side, he said, preparations are well underway for the next phase of the search operations which includes the refinement of the search area.

"A team of experts set up and led by the Australian authorities in Canberra are currently conducting the re-analysis together with Inmarsat," he said, adding that "this team has given me the assurance that the search area remains in the arc of the Southern Corridor."

On the asset deployment front, he said, "we have been in discussions with several Malaysian companies to deploy highly specialized underwater systems and platforms including the Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (AUVs), Deep-water towed side scan sonars, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). "

He disclosed that Malaysia's oil giant PETRONAS had agreed to deploy assets under the Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) approach where Malaysian companies are part of the resources to fund the search operations.

He said PETRONAS would contribute by providing funds for a Deep Towed Side Scan Sonar. A complete system will accompany the asset with a dedicated support vessel complete with crew members.