PUTRAJAYA, Aug 20 — Foreign minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir will undertake his maiden official visit to Iran from today (August 20) to August 23 at the invitation of his counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian.

During the visit, Zambry is expected to pay a courtesy call on Iranian leaders and hold a bilateral meeting with Hossein to follow up on the discussion held on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on July 5.

"Both ministers are expected to take stock of the progress of existing bilateral cooperation and discuss ways to expand new areas of cooperation.

"They are also expected to exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest. Besides, Zambry is also scheduled to hold an engagement session with local business leaders,” said a statement from Malaysian foreign ministry (Wisma Putra).

The statement said the visit reflects the commitment of the Unity Government under the leadership of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim towards enhancing bilateral relations between Malaysia with all countries, including Iran.

Zambry during his visit, which marks his first official trip to Iran since assuming office on December 2, 2022, will be accompanied by senior government officials from his ministry and business delegations.

Iran is Malaysia’s eighth largest trading partner and the 11th largest source of imports among the West Asian countries. Total trade in 2022 was RM3.69 billion (US$0.83 billion), an increase of 40.2 per cent, compared to RM2.63 billion (US$0.64 billion) in 2021. — Bernama