BERLIN: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today held a meeting with his German counterpart Chancellor Olaf Scholz as Malaysia looks at enhancing its bilateral and business ties with Germany.
Anwar was received by Scholz upon arrival at the Federal Chancellery at 6 pm (1 am Malaysian time) where he was accorded an official welcoming ceremony, and inspected the guard of honour mounted by the Wachbataillon of the Bundeswehr (German army). The national anthems of both countries were played.
At the meeting, he was accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Datuk Ewon Benedick, and Malaysian Ambassador to Germany Datin Paduka Dr Adina Kamarudin.
Also present were Dr Jörg Kukies, State Secretary for Economic, Finance and European Affairs, and German Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Peter Blomeyer.
The two leaders discussed the progress of Malaysia-Germany relations, particularly economic cooperation, education, environment, export of palm oil and sustainability, as well as exchanged views on the humanitarian crisis in Palestine and other global issues of mutual interest.
Anwar, who is here on a six-day official visit to the world’s third-largest economy, had earlier met German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Bellevue Palace.
Wisma Putra had said that the official visit was expected to further solidify the longstanding relations and multifaceted cooperation between Putrajaya and Berlin.
There are over 700 German companies based in Malaysia, creating 65,000 jobs.
Germany has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner among European Union member countries since 2000, while Malaysia is the largest trading partner for Germany among ASEAN member states.
In 2023, Malaysia’s total trade with Germany increased by 5.9 per cent to RM63.45 billion (USD13.90 billion) as compared to RM59.87 billion (USD13.62 billion) in 2022.-Bernama
