JAKARTA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arrived here today to lead the Malaysian delegation to the 43rd Asean Summit and Related Summits beginning tomorrow.
Accompanied by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, he was welcomed at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten at 3.28pm (4.28pm Malaysian time) by Indonesian Communication and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, who are part of the Malaysian delegation were also present along with Malaysia's ambassador to Indonesia, Datuk Syed Md Hasrin Tengku Hussin.
The summit until Thursday is the second this year after the 42nd Asean Summit in Labuan Bajo.
This will be Anwar's first summit with the seven Asean dialogue partners Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the United States and Canada.
Today, Anwar is attending a pre-council meeting ahead of the summit before starting the first in a series of programmes involving the Malaysian diaspora and Indonesians.
He will attend the "Santai Bersama Anwar" event tonight with Indonesian and Malaysian influencers and celebrities at the Four Seasons, Jakarta.
Among the personalities are entrepreneur-celebrities Raffi Ahmad, Nagita Slavina, Mulan Jameelah, Maruli Tampubolon, Bara Tampubolon, Kartika Putri, Habib Usman, Selvi Kitty, Iman Tang, Nur Fazura and Melly Goeslow.
Anwar is scheduled to hold 11 bilateral meetings during the summit, including with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese; United States vice-president Kamala Harris, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Tomorrow, the prime minister will participate in the summit's opening ceremony and proceed to the Asean-Indo Pacific Forum, and later meet with the Malaysian diaspora during the "Temu Anwar" talk, the first in the series held outside of Malaysia.
He will then partake in six summits on Wednesday – the Asean-China, Asean-South Korea, Asean-Japan, Asean Plus Three, Asean-US and Asean-Canada meets, during the last of which the Asean-Canada Strategic Partnership will be launched.
Four summits will be held on Thursday – the Asean-India, East Asia, Asean-Australia and Asean-United Nations meets.