Iranian President Rouhani arrives for two-day visit

SEPANG: Iranian President Dr Hassan Rouhani arrived at the Bunga Raya Complex, KL International Airport, here today to begin his maiden official two-day visit to Malaysia since he assumed the presidency in 2013.
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.
The Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra) in a statement today said Rouhani's visit to Malaysia was part of his tour to the Southeast Asia region, with stops in Vietnam and Thailand.
Rouhani is scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak in Putrajaya and both leaders are expected to witness a signing ceremony of Extradition Treaty between Malaysia and Iran.
Wisma Putra 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 USD406 billion (RM1.68 trillion).
Iran is an important trading partner for Malaysia among the West Asian countries, it said.
Wisma Putra said the bilateral trade between Malaysia and Iran has shown an upward trend since early this year, with a total trade of RM1.03 billion (USD250.03 million) between January and June 2016, an increase of 11.7% compared to the corresponding period in 2015.
Malaysia's major export to Iran in 2015 were palm oil (RM950 million), chemicals and chemical products (RM226 million), and crude natural rubber (RM222 million), while Iran's major imports to Malaysia were agricultural products (RM61 million), petroleum products (RM35 million) and crude fertilizers and minerals (RM17 million), it said. — Bernama