BERLIN: Malaysia’s newly appointed ambassador to Germany, Datuk Zulkifli Adnan said he will endeavour to work towards fostering closer ties between Malaysia and Germany in all areas of cooperation.
Zulkifli, who presented his credentials to the German President Joachim Gauck on May 19, said he had been very busy since he was formally installed as Malaysian ambassador to Germany.
“I have also been meeting with my counterparts from other countries in the diplomatic corps. In fact, I accompanied other ambassadors to the North German town of Luebeck where we visited the plants of two German companies – one produces chocolate-filling and the other one technical instruments,” he told Bernama here.
He said Germans respected Malaysia as an upcoming, moderate Islamic country and the cordial ties between both countries was marked by Foreign Minister Datuk Sri Anifah Aman’s visit to Germany on June 10 to meet his German counterpart, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
One of his priorities is to organise visits of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to Germany, and of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Malaysia.
“Both the leaders have agreed during their meeting in Milan in October 2014 at the 10th Asia Europe meeting that (Prime Minister) Najib will visit Germany,” he said, adding that he was meeting Chancellor Merkel’s foreign and security policy advisor about finding a suitable time frame for the prime minister’s visit to Germany.
The meeting will also afford an opportunity to find out about Chancellor Merkel’s possible dates for visiting Malaysia.
“Germany is also closely following Malaysia’s role as this year’s rotational chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the formation of the projected ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) this year.
“It will be easier for Germany and the European Union to deal collectively with ASEAN rather than deal individually with each ASEAN member country,” he said.
Zulkifli is also interested to promote cooperation with Germany in the education field as Malaysia was placing emphasis on vocational training of Malaysian students in countries like Germany as well as university education which could also prove to be attractive for German companies operating there.
“The rationale is that such students, having acquired specialisation in a particular discipline in Germany and German language skills, will prove to be invaluable as employees for German companies in Malaysia,” he said.
He would also like to encourage Malaysian students to stay with German families as “adopted” family members to enable them to get a good first-hand exposure to German living.
Zulkifli said he would be seeking advice from German friends of Malaysians, as well as the honorary consuls general of Malaysia in Hamburg and Stuttgart, who are German nationals.
The Malaysian ambassador invited 26 Malaysian students enrolled at German institutions of learning to discuss issues affecting their daily lives in coordination with the Public Service Department and MARA on Sunday.
“This was my first interaction with Malaysian students in Berlin. I would also like to meet our students in other German cities,” he said, adding that they had an Iftar ceremony.
Zulkifli said that he would also be coordinating with the other agencies, including Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) and Tourism Malaysia, all of which are located in Frankfurt.
His previous diplomatic postings were in Bosnia-Herzegovina, The Hague, New York and Colombo. – BERNAMA