Dr M to attend commemorative summit in South Korea

Dr Mahathir will be accompanied by his spouse Tun Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, Minister of Foreign Affairs Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking, as well as senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, Wisma Putra and MITI.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the prime minister will also participate in a dialogue session organised by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on New Partnership for the Co-Prosperity of Korea and ASEAN Businesses at the ASEAN-ROK CEO Summit, a side event that focuses on promoting regional business cooperation among entrepreneurs from ASEAN and ROK. 

Subsequent to the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit, Dr Mahathir and spouse will also undertake an official visit to Seoul, South Korea from Nov 27 to 28.

“It will be Dr Mahathir’s first official visit to South Korea since assuming the post as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia in May 2018.

“He will be accompanied by a delegation of five Cabinet ministers and senior government officials.
 
“During the visit, Dr Mahathir will lead the Malaysian delegation for a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, on November 28,” the statement read.

The statement added that both leaders will also be witnessing the signing of four Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries in the fields of information and communication technology (ICT), digital government, healthcare and medical science, as well as on water and sewerage management.

This will be followed by a luncheon hosted by Moon, in honour of Dr Mahathir and his delegation at the Presidential Blue House.

“Apart from the bilateral meeting, Dr Mahathir will also be attending a roundtable business meeting with the republic’s captain of industries and a dinner with the Malaysian diaspora in Seoul,” the statement read.

In 2018, bilateral trade between Malaysia and the ROK recorded an increase of 7.2 per cent to USD17.98 billion (RM72.60 billion), as compared to USD15.76 billion (RM67.71 billion) in 2017. 

South Korea stood as Malaysia’s 8th largest trading partner and the 13th largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2018. Malaysia, on the other hand, was South Korea’s 14th largest trading partner in the corresponding period.