MEETING THE SPEAKER

I just had a good meeting with Speaker Tan Sri Ariff, together with two senior Parliament officers. We discussed at length the scope, terms, budget and administrative aspects of the Committee on International Relations and Trade. I have instructed the secretariat to proceed to issue courtesy call letters to both the MoFA and MITI ministers, and we hope to meet the ministers for an introductory briefing before Chinese New Year. We will also proceed to conduct our first committee hearing in February.

Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting HE Ramadhani K. Dau, the Tanzanian Ambassador. We had a nice and slow dinner and discussed trade and business opportunities between Africa and Malaysia. HE Dau is heading a group of seven African Embassies here in Malaysia and they intend to hold an African/Malaysian business expo this year.

Hosting the dinner was my old friend, Tanzanian businessman Jack Gotham and his local partner Michael Choong. Jack and Michael were former clients of mine, some 12 years ago when I was a corporate lawyer.