KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah granted an audience to United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Istana Negara here.
Sheikh Abdullah arrived at the Palace at 12.50pm on Thursday (June 15).
After the audience, Al-Sultan Abdullah also hosted a luncheon for Sheikh Abdullah and his delegation, which includes UAE Ambassador to Malaysia Khalid Ghanim Al Ghaith.
Also present were Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup.
Sheikh Abdullah then paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Parliament House.
Sheikh Abdullah arrived at the Parliament at 2.40pm accompanied by Dr Zambry.
Anwar and Sheikh Abdullah then held a meeting, which lasted almost an hour, during which they discussed various efforts to strengthen the Malaysia-UAE bilateral ties, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern.
Sheikh Abdullah is in Malaysia for a two-day official visit beginning Wednesday (June 14).
During the visit, Sheikh Abdullah will hold a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Zambry Abd Kadir to exchange views on various issues, especially in enhancing Malaysia-UAE bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern.
This meeting followed the recent visit by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council to Malaysia last month.
The UAE is Malaysia’s second-largest trading partner, second-largest export destination and second-largest import source from West Asia.
In 2022, Malaysia's total trade with UAE increased by 73.5 per cent to RM38.73bil (US$8.79bil) from RM22.33bil (US$5.39bil) the previous year.- Bernama
