Dr M meets three world leaders ahead of UN general assembly

NEW YORK: Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is here to attend the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, held bilateral meetings Wednesday with three world leaders – British Prime Minister Theresa May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.

Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said all the meetings went well and the leaders expressed the desire to enhance the existing bilateral ties.

He said May had expressed the utmost interest to maintain Britain’s relations with the Asean countries just as the country had enjoyed ties as a member of the European Union ( EU).

“Britain hopes for a form of relations to be established with Asean once it is no longer in the EU,” he said to Malaysian journalists. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019.

Saifuddin said Dr Mahathir had agreed to have discussions with the other Asean countries on the British request and it would be left to Asean to adopt a decision.

He said Malaysia respected the British effort and added that May’s meeting with Dr Mahathir to discuss and seek Malaysia’s assistance was a tribute to Malaysia.

Saifuddin said Malaysia also took the opportunity to seek British help to address the general negative perception over palm oil that has led to a boycott of the commodity in Europe.

Iran, he said, had sought Malaysia’s support following the United States withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which was feared could undermine Iran’s relations with the six major powers in the agreement.

The United States withdrew on May 8 from the JCPOA, which is an agreement on the nuclear programme of Iran reached in 2015 between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – as well as Germany.

Following its withdrawal from the JCPOA, the United States could impose sanctions again on Iran with regard to its nuclear programme.

After the United States’ withdrawal, US President Donald Trump said he would reimpose sanctions on Iran as well as take action against countries which had trade relations with Iran.

The White House has threatened to drive Iran’s oil exports to zero, which Iran said was a move to spark an economic war.

Saifuddin said Dr Mahathir requested Iran’s cooperation pertaining to safeguarding the interests of Malaysian companies that had invested in Iran, such as Petronas.

“At the talks with the Sri Lankan president, the two leaders exchanged views on efforts to develop the economy in the two countries and discussed ways to enhance the peoples’ standard of living,” he said. — Bernama