Australian Prime Minister Hon. Mr Malcolm Turnbull’s Visit to Malaysia

In conjunction with the 27^th ASEAN and 10^th East Asia Summit held in Kuala Lumpur, the Australian Prime Minister Hon. Mr Malcolm Turnbull arrived in Malaysia on 21^st November 2015. This is the Prime Minister’s first visit to Malaysia and the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur organised a reception on the evening of the 21^st to welcome him.

The MAAC President, Ms Pat PW Yeoh was invited for this reception along with other prominent Malaysian conglomerates that have a strong presence in Australia and vice versa. Upon his arrival to the High Commission, he addressed the crowd by emphasising the strategic partnership between Australia and Malaysia – a strong relationship that is built on people to people ties, on trade, education and defence. He also spoke about the cooperation on counter terrorism and the tragic loss of MH 370 followed by the shocking shooting down of MH 17 where both countries are working together to locate MH 370.

The Prime Minister also made reference to the great educational ties between Australia and Malaysia where he acknowledged Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop for her vision in establishing the New Colombo Plan that now has several hundred Australians studying here in Malaysia. He also spoke about the 20,000 Malaysians studying in Australian university campuses in Malaysia, namely Swinburne University of Technology, Curtin University and Monash University, towards Australian degrees and another 22,000 studying in Australia as well as 300,000 Malaysians have secured degrees from Australian universities.

After his address, the Prime Minister went around the room to speak with individuals before embarking for the official ASEAN and East Asia Summit gala dinner. In Kuala Lumpur, he will join the launch of the “ASEAN Community” – the culmination of 6 years of diplomatic work towards an Asian version of the EU bloc.