Malaysia’s King wraps up state visit to S’pore with focus on connectivity

Deepening both personal connections and cross-border connectivity was the order of the day for Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Malaysia's King, on the second and final day of his state visit to Singapore.

- Wong Pei Ting

Sultan Ibrahim spent the morning of May 7 catching up with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong over breakfast, together with senior Malaysian officials.

They were joined by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, National Development Minister Desmond Lee, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, and Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Defence Zaqy Mohamad.

A day earlier, the King met President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and the leaders welcomed the longstanding and multifaceted bilateral ties and the good progress made in joint cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on May 7.

DPM Wong said, following his meeting with the King, that Malaysia is the Republic's closest neighbour and key partner, with deep ties underpinned by a shared history.

"I will continue to pay close attention to furthering our countries' relations as prime minister and look forward to bringing our bilateral relations to greater heights," said DPM Wong, who is set to succeed PM Lee on May 15.