Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin concluded his four-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, during which he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. During their discussions, the leaders reviewed bilateral relations and opportunities for strengthening ties in various fields. The meetings were attended by the countries’ foreign ministers—Riyadh’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Kuala Lumpur’s Hishammuddin Hussein—as well as Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman and Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih.
The countries also signed three agreements, relating to the establishment of the Saudi-Malaysian Coordination Council, the arrival of pilgrims, and a memorandum of understanding on Islamic affairs. The proposed council will be jointly headed by the foreign ministers of both nations and is expected to serve as a platform for open and consistent dialogue between the two sides on matters of mutual interest and benefit. Malaysia also secured an additional 10,000 places under its Hajj quota and inked an MoU to ease and simplify the pre-clearance process for Malaysian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.
The talks reportedly also covered issues relating to trade, energy, investment, economy, economy defence and food security, and the leaders discussed the possibility of Saudi Arabia increasing its palm oil imports from 318,000 tonnes (worth ~$218 million) last year to 500,000 tonnes in the near future. The Kingdom is one of Malaysia’s top trading partners in the Middle East, and one of the top 20 investors in the country. PM Muhyiddin expressed satisfaction at the positive outcomes achieved in his trip and labelled it as a “very successful” visit.
After Saudi Arabia, the Malaysian delegation headed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a two-day visit on Wednesday, where Muhyiddin met with numerous Emirati officials, including the Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Interior Minister Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The officials discussed the importance of establishing investment partnerships between the two sides across various sectors, such as clean energy, manufacturing, food security, and ports. They also exchanged views on their efforts to deal with the economic and social fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, the countries exchanged three MOU’s, pertaining to cooperation on the training of diplomats, on establishing diplomatic cooperation in the field of food security, and on endowing a chair in the name of late Sheikh Zayed at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) - Malaysia.
UAE’s Malaysian Ambassador Khalid Ghanim AlGhaith hailed Muhyiddin’s visit as one which only reaffirmed the close friendship between the two nations. “It aims to drive bilateral relations to a new strategic level, promoting trade and investments with potential cooperation in the areas of food security, halal products development, and more collaboration in the oil and gas sector, in addition to post COVID-19 cooperation especially by promoting tourism recovery plans,” he told Malay Mail. The diplomat acknowledged the vast trade relations between the countries and said that he was hopeful that despite the global economic slowdown due to COVID-19, bilateral trade would increase in the years ahead.
Malaysian PM Muhyiddin Visits Saudi Arabia, UAE To Bolster Bilateral Relations
Muhyiddin concluded his Saudi trip on Tuesday and will be in the UAE until Thursday.
March 11, 2021
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. SOURCE: THE STAR