SEPANG: Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, arrived today on an official visit to commemorate the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations between Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
The Royal Air Force aircraft carrying, Their Royal Highnesses landed at KLIA at 6.45 pm, they were welcomed by Minister-in-Attendance Datuk Seri S. K. Devamany, who is Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
Also present were Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican and the British High Commissioner to Malaysia Vicki Treadell.
Prince Charles and Camilla then walked past a static guard-of-honour.
Their Royal Highnesses are scheduled to visit a number of places in Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Sarawak and Penang, as well as participate in various significant events over the span of seven days from Nov 2 to 8.
Prince Charles and Camilla are expected to engage with all levels of Malaysians, from royalty to underprivileged children as well as the business community.
Their Royal Highnesses are expected to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, at Istana Negara and grant an audience to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
This is the maiden visit by Their Royal Highnesses to Malaysia.
Previous visits by the British royalty here were by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh who attended the official opening of the 16th Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and the visit by Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, in September 2012.
Relations between Malaysia and the United Kingdom encompass a wide range of areas including trade, defence and security, education, digital economy, green technology, renewable energy, culture and tourism.
Malaysia is the United Kingdom’s second largest export market in ASEAN and the UK is Malaysia's third trading partner in Europe, while in the field of education, there are currently more than 18,000 Malaysians studying in the UK.
The royal visit is part of a tour of Singapore, Malaysia and India from Oct 30 to Nov 9. Prince Charles and Camilla began their tour in Singapore on Oct 30. After visiting Malaysia, they will tour India for 11 days. - Bernama