PUTRAJAYA (Bernama) – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is here for a maiden official visit to Malaysia after assuming his post in August, was accorded an official welcome at Dataran Perdana, here today.
Imran Khan, who arrived in Malaysia yesterday, was greeted by his Malaysian counterpart Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad upon arrival at the square at 9.40am, following which the national anthems of both countries were played.
Imran Khan then inspected a guard-of-honour mounted by three officers and 103 personnel from the 1st Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment.
Also present at the ceremony were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, cabinet ministers, foreign diplomats and senior government officials.
Imran Khan and Dr Mahathir then proceeded for a four-eyed meeting to review the existing bilateral relations and cooperation between both countries as well as identify new areas for future collaboration.
Dr Mahathir and Imran Khan will also witness the signing of an agreement by the governments of Malaysia and Pakistan on the partial abolition of visa for travel between the two countries.
According to the Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra), Imran Khan is scheduled to have an audience with Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Nazrin Shah, who is performing the functions of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Imran Khan is also scheduled to visit the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters, here.
Khan is on a two-day official visit to Malaysia at the invitation of Dr Mahathir.
It is learnt that during a television conversation with Dr Mahathir last month, Imran Khan expressed the desire to visit Malaysia at the earliest date possible.
Wisma Putra said Malaysia and Pakistan enjoyed substantive and longstanding bilateral relations in the fields of education, tourism, defence cooperation and technical assistance.
In 2017, the total bilateral trade between the two countries was recorded at RM5.76 billion, an increase of 3.5 per cent compared to 2016.
Pakistan is Malaysia’s third largest trading partner among the South Asian countries.
-BERNAMA
