King grants audience to Singapore PM Lawrence Wong at Istana Negara

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, today granted an audience to Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at Istana Negara here.

Also present at the nearly one-hour meeting at Dewan Seri Mahkota were Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

Wong, who is on a two-day official visit in conjunction with the 11th Malaysia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat today, arrived with his delegation at Istana Negara at about 8.30 am.

Wong, accompanied by his wife Loo Tze Lui, and his delegation arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 1 at 6.15 pm yesterday.

This is Wong’s second visit to Malaysia since assuming office on May 15, last year. His first visit was on June 11.

The Singapore prime minister will be accorded an official welcoming ceremony at the Perdana Putra Complex, Putrajaya today, followed by a delegation meeting of the Leaders’ Retreat with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Wisma Putra, in a statement on Sunday, said that both sides are expected to take stock of Malaysia-Singapore bilateral relations and discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Both leaders are also scheduled to witness the exchange of the joint agreement on Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), six memoranda of understanding and one letter of intent on education, women and social welfare, climate change, carbon capture and storage, urban development and combatting transnational crimes.

The JS-SEZ aims to bring mutual benefits to businesses and people from both sides, including enhancing the flow of goods and people, improving the ease of doing business and supporting talent development.

As close neighbours and founding members of Asean, Malaysia and Singapore have long-standing, broad and multifaceted relations across various fields.

Both countries remain each other’s second-largest trading partners, with bilateral trade amounting to US$78.59 billion (RM360.12 billion) from January to November 2024, a 6.7 per cent increase over the same period in 2023.

This year also marks 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. — Bernama