MADINAH: Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan on Thursday met with Saudi Arabia's Hajj and Umrah Minister, Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, to discuss bilateral ties between the two nations.
Mohamad, who is currently on an official visit to Saudi Arabia from Dec 10 to 14, was received by Dr Tawfiq at Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi at about 12.20 pm (5.20 pm Malaysia time) Thursday (Dec 12).
Earlier, both ministers also performed the Zuhr prayer together.
Last Tuesday (Dec 10), Mohamad co-chaired the inaugural Saudi-Malaysian Coordination Council (SMCC) meeting held in Riyadh with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud.
The SMCC is a bilateral mechanism established to promote cooperation and act as the coordinating body between the two countries across eight key areas, namely political, security, defence, military, trade and investment, energy and environment, Islamic affairs, and education and socio-cultural.
Malaysia and Saudi Arabia also further strengthened their bilateral relations with the signing of two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) after the meeting.
Malaysia is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner among ASEAN countries and its seventh-largest globally.
In 2023, Saudi Arabia was Malaysia’s largest trading partner in the Middle East, with a total trade value of RM50.52bil.
For the first eight months of 2024, bilateral trade reached RM30.09bil. - Bernama
