By Muhammad Luqman
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will pay an official visit to Malaysia on 20-21 November 2018. He would be accompanied by a high level delegation, according to spokesman of Foreign Office.
This would be the first state visit by any foreign leader since Dr. Mahathir Mohamad assumed office in May 2018 and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s first bilateral visit to Malaysia. The two Prime Ministers will have a tete-a-tete, followed by delegation-level talks, spokesman Dr. Muhammad Faisal said.
Pakistan and Malaysia enjoy warm brotherly relations founded in mutual respect friendship and understanding reinforced by strong cultural and religious affinities.
The visit of the Prime Minister would provide an opportunity to further cement the existing friendly and cordial bilateral relations by enhancing economic, trade and commercial ties, for mutual benefit.
The prime minister’s visit to Malaysia will be the last of his trio of planned foreign visits since assuming the top office.
The prime minister has already been to Saudi Arabia and China, both of whom had assured him of financial assistance in the face of Pakistan’s mounting balance of payments crisis.
On October 18, PM Khan and Malaysian PM Mahathir had held a telephonic conversation, in which the former had emphasised Pakistan’s “close and cordial” relations with Malaysia.
PM Khan, highlighting the “need of high-level bilateral exchanges” between the two countries, had said that Pakistan and Malaysia should collaborate at an “operational level” so that they could benefit from each other’s expertise.
Meanwhile, Malaysian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ikram Bin Mohammad Ibrahim called on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who expressed his desire to reinforce the two countries’ relationship in “political and economic spheres” — Radio Pakistan reported.
During the meeting, FM Qureshi noted that “Pakistan and Malaysia enjoy close and cordial relations which are deep-rooted in common belief, heritage and history”.
The foreign minister exchanged ideas on how to further bolster “trade, investment, and people-to-people contacts” between the two nations.
