M'sia's FM Attended Malaysia National Day And Armed Forces Day In DC Tuesday

By: Nani Rahayu Yusof WASHINGTON DC, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- Tight schedule while attending the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York, did not prevent Foreign Minister Anifah Aman from spending time with various groups in society to celebrate the National Day and Armed Forces Day at the Malaysian Embassy in Washington DC, on Tuesday night. Anifah spent time greeting guests including United States (US) government officials, diplomats, armed forces, captains of industry, think tanks, academic leaders, Malaysian diaspora and friends of Malaysia in a convened evening of friendship, respect and unity. New York to Washington DC is about 370 km and around 4 hours driving. Among the guests of honour were Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel and Major General Lawrence Martin from the US Air Force. The reception commenced with the Malaysian and US National Anthems being played followed by remarks by the Ambassador Dr Awang Adek Hussin and later Russel. Later all the guests of honour including Anifah proposed a toast for a continuous friendship and prosperity of Malaysia-US relations followed by a cake cutting ceremony. The guests were also entertained to a cultural performance by Perwakilan Washington DC, and followed by sumptuous spread of Malaysian traditional authentic cuisines at a row of food stalls set up for the guests to taste delicacies such as lamb briyani, roti canai, roti jala, murtabak, chicken curry and mee goreng. Awang in his speech said Malaysia and the US continued to remain major trading and investment partners with the exchange programmes between both countries on the rise. “We are pushing forward on the visa-waiver programmes and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, and opening up a host of other new areas of cooperation," he added. -- BERNAMA