Khatami Terms Visit to Malaysia as Satisfactory
The Iranian president, heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, wound up his four-day "fruitful" visit to Malaysia yesterday where he conferred with senior Malaysian officials on further expansion of bilateral relations between the two Muslim countries.
Upon arrival at Mehrabad International Airport, he told reporters that expansion of Tehran-Kuala Lumpur ties will certainly serve the regional stability. Promotion of bilateral ties between the two states will reduce international tensions, he added.
Referring to his meeting with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, President Khatami said the Malaysian premier's proposals on monetary independence of the Islamic states and establishment of a single currency by all Islamic countries were discussed at the meeting.
The Iranian president stressed that the Islamic countries have the potentials to turn into a powerful pole in the world.
He said that during his meetings with senior Malaysian officials issues of mutual interests as well as international and regional developments were reviewed by the two sides.
Eight memoranda of understanding were also inked by the two countries in different areas, he added.
President Khatami, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur late Sunday accompanied by his wife, First Lady Zohreh Sadeqi, and a 91-member politico-economic delegation, was given a red-carpet welcome at Malaysia's Parliament House by Malaysian King Yang Di-pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Putra Jamallulail.
President Khatami met Mahathir on the second day of his visit to Malaysia during which the two Islamic countries' leaders discussed the situation in the Middle East, terrorism and economic cooperation among other subjects.
The two leaders witnessed the signing of two bilateral agreements and four memorandums of understanding.
The first agreement was an amendment to a 1992 agreement to avoid double taxation and to prevent fiscal evasion of income taxes. The second was for the promotion and mutual protection of investments.
The MOUs covered cooperation in tourism, developments in women and family, trade and information and communication technology.
On Tuesday, both leaders also witnessed the signing of a joint cooperation agreement and a memorandum of understanding to set up reciprocal Iran-Malaysia business councils.
President Khatami spent the last day of his visit on Wednesday inspecting Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), Islamic Arts Museum and the world's highest building -- Petronas' twin towers in Kuala Lumpur's city center--before saying farewell to the king and queen and boarding a flight home in the evening.
During the president's visit to Malaysia's MSC, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) Director General Osman Abdullah said Iran and Malaysia agreed to cooperate in the field of three-dimension animation and also in the area of multimedia creative technology application.
As an initial step, Malaysia and Iran have agreed to produce an animation film of Salahuddin Ayubi, an Islamic patriot who succeeded in uniting Muslims during the Muslim Crusade in the 13th century. A MOU in this cooperation was signed on Tuesday.
President Khatami's visit was his first to Malaysia since he assumed the post in 1997.