YANG di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah departed for Doha, Qatar, today for a six-day special visit. 

Royal Comptroller Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said the special visit is made at the personal invitation of the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup Qatar. 

“Apart from the invitation to watch the semi-final and final matches of the 22nd FIFA World Cup, His Majesty is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Sheikh Tamim.

“His Majesty is also scheduled to grant an audience to several Qatari leaders and attend a gathering with the Malaysian diaspora in Qatar during the special visit,” he said in a statement today.

Fadil said the king is expected to return on December 19. 

Sheikh Tamim’s personal invitation was conveyed by Qatari Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani to the king during an audience at Istana Negara on August 12. 

The Agong was a member of the FIFA Executive Committee from 2015 to 2019. He resigned from the post after taking his oath of office as the 16th king in early January 2019 in line with articles 34(2), 32(3) and 32(4) of the Federal Constitution. – Bernama, December 13, 2022.