KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah today received the credentials of 13 foreign envoys to Malaysia at Istana Negara here.

Present at the ceremony was Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah.

Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Kamaruddin Jaffar and Foreign Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob were also present.

The envoys are Bulat Sugurbayev of Kazakhstan; Nineta Barbulescu (Romania); Dr Hajara Salim Ibrahim (Nigeria); Edmundo Font Lopez (Mexico); Dr Justin Lance Lee (Australia); Andreas Launer (Austria); Dr Joachim Bergstrom (Sweden); Irfan Davudov (Arzebaijan); Morten Paulsen (Norway); B. N. Reddy (India); Massimo Rustico (Itali); Datuk Mahmud Saidin (Brunei Darussalam) and Ragai Tawfik Said Nasr (Egypt).

Sugurbayev is formerly the Director of the Department of the Americas of Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry from 2015 to February 2021, while Barbulescu was Romanian Non-Resident Ambassador to Nauru in 2019.

Hajara, on the other hand, has served as Head of the Table Division of Nigeria's House of Representative National Assembly between 1993 and 2015.

Meanwhile, Lopez has served as Mexican Ambassador to St. Lucia from 2012 to 2013, while Lee was the senior career officer at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs.

Launer was Austria's Consul General in Los Angeles, the United States (US) in 2017, while Bergstrom was Swedish Ambassador to North Korea for two years from 2019.

Davudov is formerly Head of Division at Azerbaijan's Youth Policy and Sport Issues Department, while Paulsen has served as Norwegian Consul General in Texas, the US from 2015 to 2019.

Reddy was the Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) for India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, while Rustico was Italian Ambassador to Hungary for five years since 2016.

Mahmud has served as Brunei High Commissioner to Pakistan from 2015 to 2021, while Ragai was Egyptian Ambassador to Zambia from 2014 to 2017.

-- BERNAMA