ABU DHABI – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin arrived here to begin his official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the second leg of his Middle East visit.
The prime minister departed Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and landed here at 11.50 pm Tuesday (3.50 am Wednesday in Malaysia).
He is scheduled to meet the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Wednesday.
Muhyiddin will go to Dubai later to meet Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
According to Wisma Putra, the visit will serve as a catalyst for resilience and growth, particularly in the areas of trade and investment, agriculture and food security, health and diplomatic exchanges.
UAE is Malaysia’s largest trading partner in the Middle East.
The UAE’s status as an international trade and financial hub makes it an important partner for Malaysia to access new markets.
Malaysia, on the other hand, is a critical gateway for UAE products and services in Southeast Asia.
Discussions with UAE, among others, will focus on collaboration in the post-pandemic recovery phase, food security and strengthening cooperation in the oil and gas industry.
Muhyiddin will leave for home on Thursday.
Remarkable development
Commenting on Muhyiddin’s visit, UAE Ambassador to Malaysia Khalid Ghanim AlGhaith said Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) relationships witnessed remarkable developments, especially in the areas of trade and investment, since the opening of diplomatic missions in both countries.
He said the two countries had established bilateral relationships in the early 1970s, followed by the opening of Malaysian diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi in 1983 and the UAE Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in 1995.
AlGhaith said this has been leveraged by high-level visits to both capitals, with the latest one being the visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to UAE beginning Wednesday, which he described as a mark of close relations of friendship between the two countries.
“It aims to drive bilateral relations to a new strategic level, promoting trade and investments with potential cooperation in the areas of food security, halal products development, and more collaboration in the oil and gas sector, in addition to post COVID-19 cooperation especially by promoting tourism recovery plans,” he said.
The Ambassador said the recent high-level visits include the visit of Malaysian King Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to UAE in December 2020 and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Malaysia in July 2019.
The ambassador mentioned that UAE is Malaysia’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East and West Asia, with a total bilateral trade volume of US$29 billion in the past five years.
AlGhaith is hopeful that despite the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic slowdown, trade volume between the two countries is expected to increase in the years ahead.
“UAE companies such as Mubadala and OSC investments in Malaysia are estimated at US$1.2 billion in Oil and Gas, while Malaysian companies such as Serba Dinamik Holdings have a strong presence in the UAE,” he said.
The ambassador also mentioned that Malaysia is an educational destination for UAE students with over 700 pursuing their further studies in Malaysian public and private institutes of higher learning mostly in the fields of management, accounting, and law.
