KUCHING: Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Richard Riot met up with a group of Sarawakians in London recently during which he told them to assist in the development of the state.
NICE TO MEET YOU: Tuanku Mizan (left) stresses a point to those who came to greet him during the Merdeka Carnival 2010 in the UK. Riot is in dark glasses.
A press statement issued by the Foreign Ministry yesterday said Riot had a good time meeting up with the group described as ‘group of elites from Sarawak’.
“Datuk Richard (Riot) hoped these people will bring back more benefits to the state and the people,” the statement said.
Riot, who is Serian MP, was on a working visit to The United Kingdom, The Republic of Ireland and the Russian Federation from Sept 23 to Oct 2.
The visit was also joined by Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Minister of Health Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk S K Devamany.
According to the press statement, the main purpose of the visit was to meet up with Malaysian youths and students abroad.
“The federal government is very concerned with our people living abroad. Being a deputy minister of foreign affairs of Malaysia, my job is not only to deal with my counterparts or diplomats, but also to meet up with our own people abroad.
“It equates to the concept of our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, ‘1Malaysia: People First, Performance Now’,” Riot was quoted as saying.
During the visit to the UK from Sept 24 to 26, he attended several events such as Merdeka Carnival 2010 in Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury.
It was officiated by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin and was attended by thousands of people.
While in Dublin, Republic of Ireland on Sept 25 and 26, Riot met up with 30 Malaysian specialists who serve in the local hospital there.
Later he attended a Hari Raya Aidilfitri dinner at the Malaysian Hall there.
“It was a great pleasure to meet up with a group of professionals from Malaysia and they were ready to come back to serve our nation after gaining knowledge and experiences there. This is something we have to be proud of,” Riot was reported to have said. He also met Malaysian students when he was in Moscow on Sept 29.
He visited the students in Moscow Aviation Institute and Russian State Medical University besides having dialogues with them during the two visits in different universities. He then joined 600 students for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri dinner at the Embassy of Malaysia in Moscow.
“The trip was very successful and very meaningful. It was the first time it was attended by two full ministers and two deputy ministers from different races.
“It shows that the government is looking very seriously into our nation building efforts and hopefully by 2020, we will be one of the developed nations in the world,” Riot said.