ULAANBAATAAR (MONGOLIA): Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail opted to fly on a commercial airline to attend the 2018 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) here although she is eligible to use the government jet.
In fact, she was willing to transit about six hours at Narita International Airport in Japan after departing from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday.
Dr Wan Azizah, who is heading the country's delegation to the conference, arrived at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport at 7.30pm and was greeted by Malaysian Ambassador to China/Mongolia, Datuk Zainuddin Yahya.
More interestingly, Dr Wan Azizah did not want any excessive treatment as a VVIP on her first official visit abroad since her appointment as Deputy Prime Minister in May.
At a press conference held earlier, Zainuddin said Dr Wan Azizah decided to put up in a normal room at the Shangri-La Hotel here. “She made the decision herself as to her it is more economical and also part of prudence in government’s spending,” he said.
Also in the entourage is the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Jailani Muhamed Yunus. In addition to NADMA, representatives from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Mercy Malaysia are at the conference.
The eighth edition of the AMCDRR will run until Friday. Dr Wan Azizah is only involved in today’s session and is scheduled to leave at 8.40am the next day.
It is understood that she has a tight schedule today at AMCDRR as she will attend three key meetings as well as receive courtesy calls from leading individuals at the sidelines of the conference.
She will represent Malaysia at the Official session, Asian Leadership Meeting and Technical Session at AMCDRR, which serves as a platform to discuss regional mechanisms to address issues related to disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region.
More than 3,000 representatives from 50 Asia Pacific countries are here in the Mongolian capital to attend the conference entitled 'Preventing Risk of Disaster: Protecting Sustainable Development'.