UNITED States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has arrived in Malaysia for talks with Prime Minister Najib Razak.

 He is the first senior official of US President Donald Trump administration to visit Malaysia.

The aircraft carrying Tillerson touched down at RMAF Subang airbase near Kuala Lumpur about 6.50 pm.

On hand to receive him at the air base was Deputy Foreign Minister Reezal Merican Nainan Merican. 

Besides Najib, Tillerson is also scheduled to meet Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi tomorrow.

Prior to Malaysia, the senior American official had travelled to Manila and Bangkok.

The US embassy in a statement on the visit said that discussions in Kuala Lumpur would focus on strengthening cooperation on a range of issues in the 60th year of US-Malaysia bilateral relations. – Bernama, August 8, 2017.