KUALA LUMPUR: US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob at his office at the Parliament building here on Wednesday (Dec 15).

       The meeting at 2.30pm lasted for about half an hour.

       Also present was Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.

       Blinken arrived here on Tuesday (Dec 14) night for a two-day working visit to Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is his second stop of a three-country tour of Southeast Asia.

       The United States established diplomatic ties with Malaysia in 1957.

       Washington and Kuala Lumpur elevated bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Partnership in April 2014.

       Prior to this, many notable US state secretaries had visited Malaysia including the most recent being Mike Pompeo in Aug 2018, Rex Tillerson in 2017, Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2010 and Condoleezza Rice in 2006. – Bernama