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Malaysia's Foreign Policy Consistent in Fostering Peace, Stability

KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Bernama) - Malaysia's foreign policy since independence has been consistent in fostering a peaceful and stable external environment and pursued multilateralism in addressing the broader issues confronting the world, an international conference here was told Friday.

Foreign Ministry's Deputy Secretary-General for Multilateral Affairs Datuk S. Thanarajasingam said for the country all three facets of diplomacy namely bilateralism, regionalism and multilateralism had been equally important.

"We have acted in accordance with our vision of the world. In that sense, Malaysia's foreign policy has been polymorphous, allowing us to act regionally as well as globally when the need arises," he said on the second day of the Malaysia and East Asia Conference organised by the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre.

He spoke on the title "The Role of Malaysia's Diplomacy: From Regional to Global Player".

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak delivered his keynote address at the conference yesterday.

Thanarajasingam said Malaysia was at a historic and unique juncture as it holds the chairmanships of the Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of the Islamic Conference and Asean.

"These chairmanships have put us at the centre of regional and international issues. It has presented several unique challenges to our foreign policy as it means we have to sometimes leave our own comfort zone as a small country," he said.

On East Asia, he said, as chairman of the East Asia Summit (EAS) convened on Dec 14 last year, Malaysia was committed to keeping the summit open and outward-looking.

It would convene meetings to consider follow-up actions and to provide recommendations on various aspects that had not been clarified such as on the question of new participants, he said.

The EAS was designed to be a forum for countries to engage in dialogues on broad strategic issues.

-- BERNAMA