PORT MORESBY, Nov 16 — Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said today several of his counterparts conveyed their congratulations to Malaysia on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s actions at the recent Asean summit.

Saifuddin also highlighted a bilateral meeting at the 33rd Asean Summit in Singapore, which concluded yesterday, where officials from the unspecified country told him their prime minister simply wanted to meet Dr Mahathir instead of having specific items on the agenda.

"Tun has just come back from a very successful outing at the Asean Summit.

"In all humility, I can only say that many of the Asean leaders, including also several leaders from outside Asean who were there in Singapore, had a lot of respect towards Tun,” Saifuddin told a press conference here today ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit.

He said many held Dr Mahathir in esteem because the Malaysian prime minister asked the tough questions on Asean solidarity.

"His most important call was to strengthen Asean unity. This is very important in the context of our dialogue with countries outside Asean, so that all 10 Asean members can speak in one voice.

"Second is, Tun was the only leader in the Summit who openly [brought] up the issue of fair trade. Most people talk about free trade, but Tun was very articulate in saying that we are all for free trade, but free trade must also be fair, especially for developing countries,” Saifuddin said.

Dr Mahathir will attend the 26th Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting this weekend in Papua New Guinea, the poorest nation in the 21-member Apec bloc.

The others are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States of America, and Vietnam.