- “In the Muslim world, there are only two leaders who stand out and who actually transformed the society. [One is the] Malaysian prime minister and we watched as Malaysia was transformed. The other was Turkey, under Erdogan. We saw the change in Turkey and the GDP going up,” said Imran Khan.
ISLAMABAD ( Friday, 22 March 2019) – Dr. Mahathir Mohammed Prime Minister (PM) of Malaysia who is on a three day visit to Pakistan on the invitation of Imran Khan Prime Minister (PM) Pakistan started the day with full protocols in his honour.
Dr. Mahathir was presented a guard of honour as he arrived at the Prime Minister House where a smartly turned out contingent of the armed forces presented the guard of honour to him. National anthems of both the countries were played on the occasion.
Dr. Mahathir also planted a sapling at the Prime Minister House.
Later both the prime ministers addressed a joint press conference wherein Imran Khan appreciated the Malaysian PM for taking a stand for Muslims in the aftermath of the New Zealand terror attacks in which at least 50 Muslims, including nine Pakistanis, were killed.
“We also admire you for your stand against corruption. “Our comeback was one of the most remarkable comebacks,” the premier told his Malaysian counterpart.
“Corruption is what destroys institutions and takes away money that should be spent on human beings and on human development,” he added.
The Malaysian prime minister said, “We have had bilateral discussions on issues affecting the region and the world. If we increase our trade with each other, we will benefit much. Today, everyone is focused on growing their economy. It is necessary that we have some wealth of our own in order to function as nations.”
“We believe trade between us will increase. We need to identify what you can sell to us and what we can sell to you. We need to know the rules and laws of our countries so we are familiar with them… so the traders find it comfortable to do business in the two countries,” he added.
Mahatir Mohamad further said, “I think we can exchange information on how to combat corruption in our countries.”
“I am honoured to be attending Pakistan Day,” he added. The Malaysian PM further said, “There is fear, enmity towards Muslims and the example of that is Christchurch [attacks].”
“We need to find other ways of combating Islamophobia, I think Pakistan and Malaysia understand this issue. Fighting back doesn’t always mean killing each other. There are other things we can do to reduce this atmosphere of fear, anger towards Muslims,” Mahatir Mohamad asserted.
Pakistan expects investments of US $900 million in the fields of telecoms, Information technology and food during the Malaysian prime minister’s visit of the country, as per business sources.