KUALA LUMPUR - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will begin her three-day official visit to Malaysia begining Monday.In a statement, the foreign ministry said this was the first bilateral visit to Malaysia by Clinton since the 1995 visit of Secretary Warren Christopher.Most recently, Secretary Condoleeza Rice visited Malaysia in a multilateral context to attend the Asean Regional Forum in 2006.
Clinton will be accompanied by a delegation of key senior officials from the US Department of State.The official visit was in line with the commitment expressed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and US President Barack Obama to elevate ties to a higher level in April 2010."The visit will provide opportunity for both Malaysia and the United States of America to discuss a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest," the statement said.
Clinton will meet Foreign Minister Anifah Aman on Tuesday. A noteworthy feature of the visit will be the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Malaysian Government and US on Science and Technology Cooperation."The Secretary of State will also partake in an unofficial programme which includes a public speaking engagement at the Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation in Kuala Lumpur," it said.Malaysia and US enjoy substantive and longstanding bilateral relations which cover cooperation in many areas.
The two countries have robust trade and investment relations, with total trade for 2009 amounting to RM109.23 billion (USD$31.03 billion). The US was Malaysia's third largest trading partner last year. -
Source : Bernama
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