Malaysia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Discusses a New Foreign Policy Framework

His Excellency Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah, the  Minister of Foreign Affairs for Malaysia, recently took part in a campus roundtable discussion with Dean Dallal, students, faculty and staff. The Minister, who is also a Member of Parliament for the Indera Mahkota constituency, shared Malaysia’s new foreign policy framework and the country’s higher education, research, and training priorities for the future.

Relaying the nation’s new global foreign policy agenda, which maintains Malaysia’s non-interference and non-alignment principles, His Excellency discussed the country’s renewed focus on bilateral relations with China, South Korea, Japan, and the African continent, and cited the need to increase coordination with neighboring Indonesia, which is currently a member of the United Nations Security Council. Addressing the public sector capacity needed to meet the demands of Asia’s growing economy and influence on the global stage, discussions also centered on opportunities for training seminars, cross-university collaboration, and shared research initiatives with a regional focus.