PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim departed from Melbourne today for Canberra as part of his back-to-back official visits to Australia, at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The special aircraft carrying Anwar and his wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, landed at Canberra Airport at about 12.32 pm local time (9.32 am Malaysian time) for a one-day official visit.
On arrival in Canberra, Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, is expected to deliver a public lecture at the Australian National University.
Later, he will pay a courtesy call on General David Hurley, the Governor-General of Australia, at the Government House here.
Australia is a close and important partner for Malaysia and both countries have deep cooperation in various sectors that include education, trade and investment, defence, cybersecurity as well as science and technology.
In 2023, Malaysia and Australia's bilateral trade stood at US$18.57 billion (RM84.64 billion), solidifying Australia as Malaysia's 10th largest trading partner.
As of December last year, Australia had approved investments in Malaysia involving 582 projects, with realised investments involving 366 projects.
Before he visited this capital city of Australia, Anwar concluded a four-day official visit to Melbourne.
In Melbourne, he led the Malaysian delegation to the second Malaysia-Australia Annual Leaders’ Meeting (2nd ALM) on March 4 and the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, hosted by Australia, held from March 5-6, 2024, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN-Australia Dialogue Relations.
In the meantime, as his official engagements in Australia conclude, Anwar is scheduled to depart for Malaysia this evening. - Bernama, March 7, 2024
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