KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz is the most suitable person to be Malaysia's ambassador to the United States, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the government decided to appoint Nazri as he has the right capabilities to strengthen the ties between Malaysia and US, as was proven by his predecessors such as Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis and Datuk Seri Dr Awang Adek Hussin.
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"The government decided to appoint Nazri as he has the right personality to strengthen US-Malaysian ties. I believe that he will be able to establish B2B (business-to-business), P2P (peer-to-peer) platforms and strengthen the G2G (government-to-government) platform,” he said.
"I believe the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would be visiting the US soon and Nazri would be able to handle the visit well, by setting up meetings between counterparts, business councils and corporate entities," added Ahmad Zahid who is also Rural and Regional Development Minister.
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He was asked to comment on criticism over the recent appointment of the former Padang Rengas MP and former minister as the US ambassador.
Ahmad Zahid said that Nazri must try to ensure the US keeps Malaysia at Level 1 in its travel advisory to its citizens.
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"We also hope that Nazri will be able to get our travel advisory ranking to Level 1 (for the whole of Malaysia) after we were downgraded due to the recent change in the Malaysian government,” he said.
"With the commitments we have from the Home Ministry and Foreign Ministry, we hope the problems can be ironed out," said Ahmad Zahid.
He was speaking to reporters after attending a Rural and Regional Development Ministry's Strategic Direction Workshop at a hotel here on Sunday (Feb 12).
The US has ranked Malaysia as Level 1 on its travel advisory except for Sabah, which the US has ranked as Level 2.
Level 1 advises US citizens to exercise normal precautions, Level 2 means to exercise increased caution, Level 3 urges US citizens to reconsider travel whereas Level 4 advises citizens not to travel to the country.
