I am pleased to announce that the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will make an official visit to Australia, 7-9 April 2005.
Australia retains a strong and broad based bilateral relationship with Malaysia in trade and investment, security co-operation, education and people-to-people ties. Total bilateral goods and services trade amounted to $9.6 billion in 2004, an increase of 21.3 per cent over the previous year. Reflecting the strength of our economic links, in recent months, both governments have undertaken parallel scoping studies to assess the possibility of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement.
During Prime Minister Abdullah's visit I look forward to exploring areas in which we can further build and strengthen the relations between us.
It will be the first official visit to Australia by a Malaysian Prime Minister since 1984. Details of the visit will be released closer to the time.
Dato' Seri Abdullah has been Prime Minister of Malaysia since November 2003. I have met him on several occasions since then at the inauguration of President Yudhoyono, the APEC Leader's Meeting in Santiago and the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane last year and at the Special Tsunami Summit in Jakarta in January.