Kuala Lumpur (ANTARA) - The Malaysian government confirmed that President Prabowo Subianto will meet Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday during his working visit to the country.
According to Malaysia's Foreign Ministry in its statement in Putrajaya, the visit will be Prabowo's inaugural visit to Malaysia as Indonesian president.
The two leaders will discuss bilateral relations and probe cooperation in new potential fields to strengthen Indonesia-Malaysia relations. The ministry stated that Anwar will also host a luncheon with Prabowo.
As Malaysia embarks on its new duty as ASEAN chair in 2025, the two leaders are expected to exchange views on strengthening the development of the ASEAN Community and regional cooperation as well as addressing global challenges.
According to the ministry, the visit reflected special relations between Malaysia and Indonesia and their expansive cooperation in various fields, including—but not limited to—economy, social and cultural, defense, and security.
Indonesia is Malaysia's seventh-largest global trade partner and third-largest among ASEAN countries in 2023 when the bilateral trade value reached US$24.39 billion.
Meanwhile, the value of trade between Indonesia and Malaysia between January and October 2024 reached US$20.75 billion, a slight increase from the US$20.69 billion recorded in the same period in 2023.
Prabowo was scheduled to meet Anwar in Langkawi in the northern Malaysian state of Kedah on December 23, 2024, as a stopover following his Egypt visit to attend the D-8 Summit in Cairo.
However, the president skipped the Malaysian visit and proceeded to return directly to Jakarta, where he convened a year-end preparation meeting with his aides upon landing.
Announcing the meeting's cancellation in his statement on social media, Anwar said that Prabowo "asked to postpone the meeting due to fever."
