Malaysia-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties become more productive under Muhyiddin's leadership

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 -- The Malaysia-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties have become more productive and dynamic under the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership, said Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar today.

He said despite the constraints of COVID-19 pandemic, the diplomatic relations of the two countries continued to be strengthened through video conferences between the foreign ministries of Malaysia- Saudi Arabia and at various top levels.

“And the result of the good relations was evident when Saudi Arabia donated medical equipment to Malaysia to help us fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation from Saudi Arabia was the largest among those received from other countries.

“The equipment includes 150 portable ventilators, five million units of surgical masks, a million pieces of N95 face masks and 80,276 pairs of medical jumpsuits overalls,” he said during question time at the Dewan Negara sitting.

Kamarudin said this in reply to Senator Siti Fatimah Yahaya who wanted an explanation on the status of Malaysia’s diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia which was seen as declining under the Pakatan Harapan government and the measures taken to restore it.

He said the Saudi Arabian government had also facilitated the repatriation of Malaysians due to the increase in the number of  COVID-19 cases in the Kingdom.

To date, he said 1,264 Malaysians were brought home from Saudi Arabia via 11 special Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) flights.

The Saudi Arabia government had also sponsored air tickets for 45 Malaysians in SAUDIA flight to Malaysia on April 11.

Saudi Arabia has also remained as one of Malaysia's largest trading partners with a trade value of RM22.3 billion last year, he added.

-- BERNAMA