SUBANG JAYA: Malaysia, which is set to assume the Asean chairmanship in 2025, will continue to maintain positive engagements with the United States under the Donald Trump administration, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister said that the US voters have made their choice to return Donald Trump to the White House and Malaysia had sent earlier congratulatory messages to him.
"So far, in terms of initial engagement, it has been quite positive," he said during an interview with chief editors here on Saturday (Dec 21).
Malaysia will helm the 10-member regional bloc just before the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president on Jan 20.
Anwar also pointed out that the US remains one of the largest investors for Malaysia.
"Our relations with their big players are still excellent... like Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) are excellent, and of course they would have some influence in the administration.
"And primarily, Trump is quite pragmatic and is strongly pro-business.
"So, of course, I would do whatever I can to try to continue with this engagement," said Anwar.
As the Asean chair next year, Anwar said that Malaysia would leverage its "friends" in the regional bloc to work together on this issue.
"I think we have the advantage with some of our friends like the Philippines, which is relatively closer to the US as well as former Thailand premier Thaksin Shinawatra, more effectively engaging with the US.
"I have my strengths and weaknesses but together as a team, we can complement (one another).
"We are trying our level best to assure them, our policy of neutrality and centrality is critical for the survival of our countries and our region," said Anwar.
