MALAYSIA appreciates the UK’s assistance in addressing issues involving Rohingya refugees, said Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

She said the aid provided by the UK helps finance humanitarian, educational and health programmes in Malaysia, as well as the operation of the Malaysian field hospital in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

“I am thankful to the UK for helping the Rohingya refugees, now totalling almost 100,000 (in Malaysia),” she told Malaysian journalists covering her first official visit to the UK last night.

Earlier, Dr Wan Azizah held talks on bilateral ties with British Secretary of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) Jeremy Hunt.

During the 30-minute meeting, held at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the deputy prime minister was accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, and senior officers from the Foreign, and Women, Family and Community Development Ministries.

Dr Wan Azizah, who also holds the women, family and community development portfolio, said the UK’s financial aid is “a relief” to Putrajaya, which spends some RM10 million a year addressing the issue of refugees in Malaysia.

On her meeting with Hunt, she said they exchanged views on bilateral, regional and global issues.

“Among the matters discussed was Hunt’s proposed visit to Malaysia early next year.”

She said cooperation in tourism and the marketing of palm oil in Europe, as well as issues concerning chemical weapons, were also discussed.

Dr Wan Azizah said she has requested that the UK support the Malaysian palm oil industry.

She added that the UK government asked that Malaysia support legislative-based decisions by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in efforts to eradicate the threat posed by such weapons. – Bernama, December 7, 2018.