Najib (right) welcomes Rouhani during his courtesy call. — Bernama photo
PUTRAJAYA: The President of Iran, Dr Hassan Rouhani was accorded an official welcome at Dataran Perdana here yesterday in conjunction with his first official visit to Malaysia.
Rouhani, who assumed the presidency in 2013, was greeted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak upon arrival.
After the national anthems of Iran and Malaysia were played respectively, the president inspected a guard-of honour mounted by 106 officers and men of the 1st Battalion Royal Malay Regiment led by Mej Wan Azrul Wan Yahya.
Najib then introduced Rouhani to the cabinet ministers, foreign diplomats and senior government officials.
Later, Najib held a restricted meeting with Rouhani followed by a delegation meeting.
Both leaders are scheduled to witness a signing ceremony of Extradition Treaty between Malaysia and Iran.
The two-day visit to Malaysia is part of Rouhani’s tour to the Southeast Asia region with stops in Vietnam and Thailand.
Earlier, Rouhani arrived in a private jet at 1.15pm accompanied by the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Mohamad Javad Zarif, senior cabinet ministers and senior government officials.
He was greeted upon arrival by the Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and was given a red carpet welcome and walked past a guard of honour mounted by the Sixth Royal Ranger Regiment and senior cabinet ministers and senior government officials.
Wisma Putra in a statement said the official visit was aimed at re-affirming and further strengthening the warm and close bilateral relations between Malaysia and Iran.
“Both sides are expected to take stock, as well as expand the scope and substance of bilateral relations in various fields such as trade, investment, oil, energy, education, capacity building and tourism,” it said.
The statement said following the lifting of the United Nations (UN) sanctions, Iran is again the focus of Malaysian companies who are interested in exporting their goods and services to Iran, which has an estimated market worth US$406 billion. —Bernama