PM Anwar begins official visits to Italy, France, and Brazil
The Malaysian delegation departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 2.15 pm aboard a Malaysia Airlines chartered flight. The three-country tour begins with a three-day visit to Italy, followed by engagements in France and Brazil.
Italy, France, and Brazil collectively contributed RM50.91 billion (USD11.14 billion) in bilateral trade with Malaysia last year. The visits aim to reinforce economic partnerships and explore new opportunities in trade, technology, and investment.
Anwar is accompanied by a high-profile business delegation, including representatives from Petronas, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Maybank, FGV, YTL Power, and Sunway. Five Cabinet ministers are also part of the entourage, covering key portfolios such as foreign affairs, transport, agriculture, defence, and trade.
In Rome, the Prime Minister will meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss strengthening bilateral ties across multiple sectors. Malaysia's Ambassador to Italy, Datuk Zahid Rastam, highlighted the visit's potential to deepen collaboration.
The Paris leg includes a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, focusing on trade, technology, and education. Anwar will also engage with French business leaders, address the Malaysian diaspora, and deliver a public lecture at Sorbonne University on July 4.
The final stop in Rio de Janeiro will see Anwar attending the 17th BRICS Summit as a partner country. Malaysia's participation underscores its commitment to multilateralism, climate action, and global governance, aligning with its role as ASEAN Chair for 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
42 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
PM Anwar arrives in Rome for a three-day official visit
ROME: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arrived here Tuesday for a three-day working visit to the third-largest economy in the European Union (EU). The aircraft carrying the Prime Minister landed at Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport at 8.18pm (2.18 am Wednesday, Malaysia time). On hand to welcome Anwar at the airport were Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Malaysia's Ambassador to Italy Datuk Zahid Rastam, Italian Senior Ambassador for Protocol Affairs Fabrizio Romano and former Italian Ambassador to Malaysia Massimo Rustico. Anwar said he hoped the visit would strengthen Malaysia-Italy ties and deepen strategic cooperation, as well as to elevate ASEAN-EU engagement in a challenging global landscape. "This visit, which comes at the invitation of my counterpart, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, reflects our shared commitment to strengthening the long-standing bilateral relationship between Malaysia and Italy based on the principles and spirit of friendship, trust and mutual respect. "Malaysia sees Italy as an important strategic partner in the European continent and we are committed to expanding cooperation in trade and investment, defence industry and the energy transition sector," said Anwar. Furthermore, as ASEAN Chairman, Anwar said this visit will also enhance the value of the relationship between the Southeast Asian region and Europe in the increasingly challenging geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape. "I am confident that this visit will open a new chapter that is more dynamic, yielding concrete benefits and taking Malaysia-Italy relations to a new and higher level," he added. During the visit, Anwar is accompanied by Mohamad, Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, and Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz. Also part of the delegation is Deputy Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir. Immediately upon arrival at the capital, Anwar and delegation attended a gathering with Malaysian diaspora in the country. On July 3, the Prime Minister is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with his counterpart at Chigi Palace. According to Zahid, the meeting will provide an opportunity for both leaders to take stock of the current state of Malaysia-Italy relations and explore avenues to further strengthen cooperation, particularly in the fields of economy, defence technology, and energy. The two leaders will also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the ASEAN-Italy Development Partnership, ASEAN-European Union Dialogue Relations, and the situation in the Middle East. As ASEAN Chair for 2025, Anwar is expected to also highlight Malaysia's priorities and ASEAN's efforts in addressing regional and global challenges. The Prime Minister will also officiate the Malaysia-Italy Economic Partnership Roundtable on Wednesday, which will bring together industry leaders from both countries to explore trade and investment collaboration. During the business engagement event, Anwar is set to meet captains of Industry from 36 Italian firms, including multinational companies such as Leonardo SpA, STMicroelectronics and Ferrero. Italy is the third-largest national economy in the EU and the world's eighth-largest by gross domestic product. He is also scheduled to meet leaders of the local Muslim community. Malaysia and Italy enjoy longstanding and multifaceted relations, underpinned by strong economic ties, growing trade and investment, and people-to-people exchanges. – MORE In 2024, total trade between Malaysia and Italy recorded a two per cent increase, reaching RM14.61 billion (USD3.18 billion) compared with 2023. For the period of January to May 2025, total trade grew by 3.3 per cent year-on-year to RM6.5 billion (USD1.48 billion). Italy remains Malaysia's fifth largest trading partner and third largest importer of Malaysian palm oil among European Union member states in 2024. The Prime Minister will undertake an official visit to France on July 3 and 4, 2025 concluding his visit to Italy. – BERNAMA
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Motor racing-F1 talks up Silverstone's 'forever' future before Starmer meeting
Formula One F1 - Canadian Grand Prix - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - June 15, 2025 Formula One Group CEO Stefano Domenicali ahead of the race REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) -Silverstone circuit could stay on the Formula One calendar forever with no real rival to host the British Grand Prix, the sport's chief executive Stefano Domenicali said on Tuesday ahead of this weekend's race. The Italian told reporters he could not imagine a championship without Britain, home to seven of the 10 teams, but there was also no chance of the country having more than one race. "I do believe that... Silverstone has the right characteristics to stay forever in the calendar," said Domenicali, who will visit Downing Street on Wednesday with some drivers and team bosses to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "There's no other places where you can develop such a huge event in the UK. I don't see any other places, to be honest." Silverstone hosted the first world championship race in 1950 and has a contract until 2034. Last year it hosted the biggest crowd of any event on the calendar with 480,000 spectators. Miami and Austria's Red Bull Ring have the longest deals, both running to 2041, and Domenicali saw no reason why Silverstone could not join them although the circuit management had yet to seek an extension. The meeting at Downing Street is billed as an informal celebration of the 75th anniversary of the first F1 championship race at Silverstone, but it is also a chance to raise issues the sport wants addressed. Domenicali said he would highlight how much the "F1 ecosystem" contributes to Britain as the beating heart of a global sport, and the risk of losing that primacy due to restrictions on staff and movement. Formula One figures calculate the sport brings 12 billion pounds ($16.48 billion) annually to the UK economy with 6,000 people directly employed and a further 41,000 working in a supply chain of 4,500 companies. The Italian said visa issues post-Brexit had affected the deployment of staff from race to race around Europe, while costly and time-consuming paperwork had complicated logistics and made it harder to draw up the race calendar. "It is impossible to think in the short term that the teams will move out from the UK because of this limitation but the teams will organise themselves maybe in a different way," he warned. "What we are asking is not to change the decision that your country has taken, because it's not our mandate and our role, but to facilitate things that are having a burden on the economical side. "And also in terms of possibility to be, as a country, more attractive for keeping the central part of F1 in this country." ($1 = 0.7281 pounds) (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)
Malaysia Sun
4 hours ago
- Malaysia Sun
Putin and Macron hold phone call Kremlin
The Russian and French presidents have discussed the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, the Kremlin press service has said Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron by telephone, the Kremlin press service said on Tuesday. It is the first phone contact between the leaders since September 2022. The conversation revolved around the situation in the Middle East, as well as the Ukraine conflict. During the call, Putin told Macron that the Ukraine conflict was "a direct consequence of the policies pursued by Western states, which for many years ignored Russia's security interests," and had established an "anti-Russian bridgehead" in the country, the press service stated. DETAILS TO FOLLOW (
