Alberto Rubio
“I would like to appeal to our Spanish friends to work together and continue to expand our ties in the coming years,” said the Ambassador of Malaysia, Akmal Bin Che Mustafa, during the reception he hosted yesterday on the occasion of the bank holidays of the Asian country.
Coinciding with the 55th anniversary of bilateral Spanish-Malaysian relations, the ambassador stressed that over the years “a bond of friendship has been forged that has been growing” and now encompasses “multiple strategic sectors that show great progress”.
“In the first half of 2022 our bilateral trade grew by 21 per cent, reaching almost €1 billion. Also our mutual investments are developing at a good pace while tourism activities are back to pre-pandemic levels.”
The ambassador then referred to the good figures for Malaysia’s economy in 2022. “In this post-pandemic phase, our economy has shown a strong recovey momentum, with GDP growth of 6.9 per cent between January and June,” he said. As an example, he said, more than 400,000 jobs were created in that period, foreign trade grew by 30 per cent and foreign direct investment exceeded 9 billion euros.
Ambassador Akmal Bin Che Mustafa ended his speech in Spanish by proposing to the attendees “a toast to the health and well-being of the King of Spain, His Majesty Felipe VI, to the continued success, prosperity and happiness of the Spanish people and to a lasting partnership between the Kingdom of Spain and Malaysia”.
The reception was attended by numerous businessmen, including the president of the Exporters Club Antonio Bonet, and ambassadors from Vietnam, Nepal, Thailand, Iran, Iran, Guatemala, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Australia. Representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the Deputy Director General for the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Philippines, Gerardo Fueyo.
