KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — US President Donald Trump will be meeting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on September 12, the White House press secretary confirmed today.

The meeting will mark 60 years of bilateral ties between the world superpower and South-east Asia’s third-largest economy.

“President Trump looks forward to celebrating the 60th anniversary of United States-Malaysia bilateral relations and discussing ways to strengthen and broaden our bilateral relationship and expand regional cooperation with one of America’s closest partners in South-east Asia,” the white House press secretary said in a statement.

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In a separate statement, Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the prime minister will be undertaking a working visit to Washington DC on September 12 at the US president’s invitation.

“The two leaders are expected to discuss areas of mutually beneficial cooperation, including national security, the global fight against terrorism and extremism, and trade and investment that will benefit our nations and our peoples,” the ministry added in the statement.

Najib’s father and Malaysia’s second prime minister Tun Razak Hussein helped establish bilateral ties with the US during his term in office.

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He was the country’s first prime minister to receive a visit from a sitting US president, Lyndon B. Johnson, in October 1966.

US-Malaysia ties have improved under the current administration. Trump is the second sitting US president to meet with Najib, after Barack Obama who visited Kuala Lumpur in November 2015.