PUTRAJAYA, May 4 — Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir will be leading Malaysia’s delegation to the 5th Malaysia-Australia Annual Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AFMM) in Adelaide, Australia, from today until May 6.
The visit marks the Minister’s maiden working visit to Australia since assuming office on Dec 2, 2022.
AFMM is an annual meeting between both Ministers of Foreign Affairs, under the ambit of Malaysia-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) framework.
“The 5th AFMM will be the second meeting after both countries elevated bilateral ties to CSP on Jan 27, 2021,” said a statement from the Malaysian foreign ministry (Wisma Putra).
The statement said that Zambry’s visit to Australia will enable Malaysia to strengthen the existing bilateral cooperation, where both sides will also evaluate bilateral cooperation status underpinned by the CSP framework – ranging from economic prosperity, society and technology to defence cooperation and regional security.
Malaysia and Australia have a long-standing friendship built upon shared history, augmented by robust trade and exceptional people-to-people ties.
Australia remains Malaysia’s largest and strategic trading partner, export destination and source of import in the Oceania region. In 2022, the total trade value increased by 55.4 per cent to RM88.65 billion (US$20.05 billion) compared to RM57.04 billion (US$13.76 billion) in 2021.
