PUTRAJAYA, May 2 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim discussed issues of common interests and efforts to strengthen bilateral ties with South Korea when its Foreign Minister Park Jin made a courtesy call on him today.
The hour-long meeting at Perdana Putra here was held as part of Park’s two-day working visit to Malaysia beginning yesterday.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir was present at the meeting.
Park is making his first visit to Malaysia since being appointed as foreign minister in May 2022.
Anwar, in a post on his official Facebook, said he and Park discussed issues of mutual interests, including cooperation in the economic sector, defence, infrastructure development, transport and renewable energy.
“We agreed to again step up exchange of visits at the highest level between the two countries.
“We also exchanged views on international and geopolitical issues. The Republic of Korea is a close and important friend of Malaysia,” he said.
“It is hoped that this visit will strengthen ties and bring benefits to both countries,” he said.
Anwar said that when making an official visit to Seoul in 1996 as deputy prime minister, he had met Park, who was serving as political secretary and interpreter to then South Korean President Kim Young Sam.
Wisma Putra, in a statement yesterday, said Park’s visit coincided with the 40th anniversary celebration of the Look East Policy involving Malaysia and South Korea.
“This visit will be a platform for both sides to upgrade bilateral ties to another level, based on the principle of common interests, mutual trust and people-to-people relationships,” the statement said.
In 2022, South Korea was Malaysia’s eighth largest trading partner with trade totalling RM114.21 billion (US$25.94 billion), a 29.3 per cent increase over the figure for 2021.
South Korea is also Malaysia’s seventh biggest foreign investor in the manufacturing sector with implemented projects worth RM33 billion (US$9.25 billion).
