Pakistan confers highest civilian award to Anwar

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been conferred the Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of Pakistan by the country’s president Asif Ali Zardari in a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the Presidential Palace here on Thursday (Oct 3).

Earlier, Anwar who is on a three-day state visit to the South Asian country, paid a courtesy call on President Zardari.

“(The award) is the highest recognition from the Pakistani government for Anwar’s leadership in fostering and enhancing bilateral relations between Malaysia and Pakistan,” Malaysian High Commissioner to Pakistan Datuk Mohammad Azhar Mazlan told Malaysian media recently.

Also attending the award ceremony were Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and other members of the Malaysian delegation.

After the ceremony, President Zardari hosted the Malaysian Prime Minister to a state banquet at the Presidential Palace.

The government of Pakistan had also conferred the award to the then Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2019.

Malaysia and Pakistan established diplomatic relations in 1957 when Malaysia gained its independence.

In 2019, Malaysia and Pakistan signed a Strategic Partnership accord.

Kuala Lumpur and Islamabad had also inked the Malaysia-Pakistan Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (MPCEPA) in 2008, covering trade in goods, investments and technical cooperation.

Pakistan has been Malaysia’s third-largest export destination in South Asia since 2016.

Bilateral trade between the two countries last year stood at RM6.43bil, with export from Malaysia totalling RM4.39bil while the country’s import from Pakistan was RM2.04bil, with trade surplus of RM2.34bil in Malaysia’s favour.

For the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade between Malaysia and Pakistan has amounted to RM5.10bil. – Bernama