KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) — Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has the suitable personality to be the Malaysian ambassador to the United States as he is able to forge closer ties between both countries, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.
The UMNO president expressed his belief that the former Padang Rengas MP could strengthen various cooperation between Malaysia and the US.
“…because we have had several previous ambassadors, including Tan Sri Jamaluddin Mohd Jarjis, Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek Hussin who forged relations between the US and the Malaysian government, establishing not only business-to-business (B2B), peer-to-peer (P2P).
“For UMNO, what is important is to strengthen the government-to-government (G2G) (ties) between the US and the Malaysian government,” he said when asked about Mohamed Nazri’s appointment during a media conference after attending a Rural and Regional Development Ministry strategic direction workshop here today.
He said that Mohamed Nazri could arrange and organise meetings between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the US government and corporate leaders during the prime minister’s official visit to the US.
On Thursday, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, bestowed the letters of appointment to 10 Malaysian chief diplomatic representatives, including Mohamed Nazri.
Anwar, meanwhile, explained yesterday that Mohamed Nazri’s appointment was approved by the previous administration while Ahmad Zahid clarified today that the appointment was not based on UMNO’s recommendation, but on former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob during his tenure as prime minister.
In another matter, Ahmad Zahid said that Malaysia was previously placed in Level 3 of the US Travel Advisory but had recently been upgraded to Level 2.
He hoped that the new ambassador to the US would be able to raise it to Level 1 in the future.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
