Foreign Ministry Sec-Gen To Lead Malaysian Delegation To Australia And New Zealand

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 (Bernama) -- Secretary-General of Foreign Affairs Ministry Ramlan Ibrahim will lead the Malaysian delegation to the Foreign Ministry Consultations between Malaysia and New Zealand in Wellington, New Zealand on Aug 14, and to the Senior Officials Talks between Malaysia and Australia in Canberra, Australia on Aug 16. The ministry, in a statement Sunday, said the New Zealand delegation will be led by the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, Dr Brook Barrington, while the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, Frances Adamson, will lead the Australian delegation to the meeting. During these meetings in Wellington and Canberra, the respective heads of delegation will take stock of the progress of the existing bilateral cooperation and discuss the current regional and international issues of mutual concern. “They are expected to touch on issues related to ASEAN, the United Nations (UN), South China Sea, developments in the Pacific, counter-terrorism, and the Middle East conflict,” the statement said. It said the meetings are timely as Malaysia celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with New Zealand and Australia this year. The statement said the Foreign Ministry Consultations between Malaysia and New Zealand is the 7th bilateral consultations held at the level of Secretary-General since its establishment on 6 September 2005. The last meeting was held on 10 June 2015 in Putrajaya. The Senior Officials Talks between Malaysia and Australia, on the other hand, is a biannual meeting, alternating annually with the Senior Officials Strategic Dialogue (at the level of Deputy Secretary-General) under the Malaysia-Australia Strategic Partnership Framework which was announced by the Prime Minister Najib Razak and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Nov 22, 2015. Malaysia’s bilateral relations with New Zealand and Australia have grown steadily and can be described as broad-based and substantive, enjoying vibrant cooperative relations in a wide range of sectors including trade and investment, education, security, defence and people-to-people ties. From January to May 2017, bilateral trade between Malaysia and New Zealand increased by 42.1% to RM3.25 billion (NZD1.01 billion) as compared to RM2.28 billion (NZD0.76 billion) for the corresponding period in 2016. During the same period, bilateral trade between Malaysia and Australia also recorded an increase by 30.8% to RM22.3 billion (AUD6.56 billion) as compared to RM17.04 billion (AUD5.01 billion) for the corresponding period in 2016. -- BERNAMA