KUALA LUMPUR: Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte has arrived in Malaysia for a two-day working visit.
The special aircraft carrying Rutte and his delegation landed at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang, here at 3.35pm on Tuesday (Oct 31).
Rutte was received by Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin.
The Dutch Prime Minister then inspected a static guard of honour mounted by 28 officers and men from the First Battalion of the Royal Ranger Regiment (Ceremonial Infantry) led by Captain Amirul Akmal Osman.
Rutte is scheduled to hold a meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday (Nov 1) where the two leaders will evaluate the progress of bilateral ties, especially cooperation in trade, investment, cultural exchange, palm oil, agriculture and agricommodity and discuss the issue of Islamphobia.
In the meeting, both leaders are expected to exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Rutte will also hold a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who is also the Plantation and Commodities Minister, and take part in a symbolic planting of an oil palm tree to symbolize the close cooperation between the two countries in the palm oil sector.
Rutte is also scheduled to deliver a keynote address and participate in a dialogue session with Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad at the 6th Malaysia-The Netherlands Water Dialogue in the effort to combat issues on water.
This is the second visit by Rutte to Malaysia after the last visit to this country in 2014.
In 2022, the Netherlands is Malaysia's 14th largest trading partner and the second largest in the European Union (EU) with a trade volume of RM48.04bil (US$10.93bil), an increase of 33.4% compared to RM36.01bil (US$8.68bil) in 2021.
The Netherlands is also the largest importer of Malaysian palm oil among EU countries with 732,324.54 tonnes.
The working visit is to further strengthen the good relationship between Malaysia and the Netherlands. – Bernama,
