Pakistan

President Alvi confers top civil award on Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad

Malaysian premier also presented guard of honour at PM House

News Desk March 22, 2019

President Dr Arif Alvi confers on Nishan-e-Pakistan on Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohmad on March 22, 2019. SCREENGRAB

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President Dr Arif Alvi has conferred the country’s top civil award — Nishan-e-Pakistan — on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The award was given at a ceremony held at the President House on Friday which was attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan, federal ministers, parliamentarians, services chiefs and members of the Malaysian delegation.

A banquet dinner was also hosted by President Dr Alvi in honour of Dr Mahathir and his delegation.

Earlier in the day, Dr Mahathir was also presented a guard of honour at the Prime Minister's House in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Imran Khan received Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Prime Minister House today where he was presented with a Guard of Honour. #PakistanWelcomesMahathir #Pakistan 🇵🇰 #Malaysia 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/g9nuSBOLot
— Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) March 22, 2019

Flanked by PM Imran, Malaysian dignitary arrived at the venue for the formal welcome. The ceremony started with national anthems of both countries followed by a guard of honour presented by a smartly turned out contingent of the armed forces.

Pakistan eyes Far East markets via Malaysia

The Malaysian premier, who arrived in Islamabad on Thursday on a three-day official visit, will be the guest of honour at the Pakistan Day on March 23..

During the visit, Dr Mahathir said, businessmen from the two countries would sign $800 million worth of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the areas of “telecommunication, technology, automobiles and halal food”.

The visit largely aimed at enhancing business-to-business contacts and using them for Pakistan’s outreach to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Razak Dawood, adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, told a news conference in Islamabad.

Dawood also said that Pakistan wants to increase its outreach to the far-eastern countries through Malaysia. “We believe Malaysia will be an opening for us to the Asean countries,” he added.