PUTRAJAYA, Nov 8 — As Malaysia prepares to chair the Asean Summit next year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim extended invitations to China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping during his official visit earlier this week.

Government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil highlighted that this reflects Malaysia’s strength as a sovereign nation.

"This demonstrates Malaysia’s sovereignty — a nation that trades with any country willing to engage and befriends those who wish to form ties with us. This is our policy,” Fahmi said during his weekly media briefing here, today.

He also noted that these moves could foster positive developments for the Asean region.

Tomorrow, Anwar will depart for Egypt to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on an official visit, before flying to Saudi Arabia on November 11 for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) emergency meeting.

He will then travel to Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, followed by the G20 summit in Brazil, at the invitation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. As Asean chair, Malaysia traditionally receives an invitation to the G20 summit.