MALAYSIAN PM NAJIB HOLDS BILATERAL MEETING WITH OBAMA FROM THAM CHOY LIN

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
and President Barack Obama met Monday ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit here,
sending clear signals of a fresh spring in relations between Malaysia and the
United States.

The two leaders looked relaxed as they settled down to their first ever
bilateral meeting that took place at the downtown Walter E.Washington Convention
Center, the venue of the historic summit which opens the same afternoon.

In the cordial atmosphere, Najib and Obama talked for 40 minutes, longer
than
their scheduled half hour meeting flanked by Acting Foreign Minister Dr Rais
Yatim, who is Information Communication and Culture Minister, and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Immediately after the bilateral meeting, the Prime Minister was whisked
away
for a lunch hosted by Vice-President Joe Biden at his residence in the U.S.
Naval Observatory for 12 of the summit dignitaries.

Also in the Prime Minister's delegation for the meeting with Obama were
Foreign Ministry secretary-general Rastam Mohd Isa and Malaysian
ambassador to the United States Jamaludin Jarjis.

Najib is among 46 world leaders invited for the two-day summit, the largest
ever gathering of international leaders in the U.S capital, as Obama seeks a
global effort to prevent nuclear terrorism.

Obama had scheduled bilateral meetings with Najib and four other leaders on
Monday, the others were King Abdullah of Jordan, Ukrainian President Viktor
Yanukovich, Armenian President Serzh Sargsian and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Najib and Hu are the only leaders from Asia to meet Obama on the sidelines
of
the summit.

Obama telephoned Najib last June to discuss the global financial crisis and
nuclear non-proliferation issues and the Prime Minister took the opportunity to
raise the issue of two Malaysians detained in Guantanamo for alleged links to
the Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah militant groups.

At the U.S Naval Observatory, 12 foreign leaders would lunch with Biden and
discuss Obama's commitment for a nuclear weapon free world and address the
goals of the Non-Aligned Movement, according to the White House.

Apart from Najib, the expected guests are South African President Jacob
Zuma,
Nigerian acting President Dr Goodluck E.Jonathan, Vietnamese President Nguyen
Tan Dung, Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi, Indonesian Vice President
Boediono, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankiri, Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medeici, Saudi
Arabia's Prince Muqrin Abd al-Aziz Saud, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.

Earlier Monday, Najib met U.S deputy secretary of state, James Steinburg,
who had called on him in Putrajaya last September.

The Prime Minister is also slated for a bilateral meeting with New Zealand
Prime Minister John Key in the afternoon before the summit begins.

The summit is part of Najib's week-long working visit to the U.S, his second
since taking office in April last year.

-- BERNAMA



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