#MYUK60: Prince Charles and Camilla arrive for official visit to Malaysia tomorrow

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles and Camilla will start their official visit to Malaysia from Nov 2 to 8. This would be their first visit by the royal couple.

Prince Charles and Camilla will visit four states to celebrate the 60 years of Malaysia-United Kingdom bilateral relations between the two nations, a 'special relationship' , as described by British High Commissioner to Malaysia, Vicky Treadell.

The Prince and The Duchess are scheduled to visit various organisations promoting wildlife conservation and biodiversity, women and girls training, education and empowerment and defence in Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Sarawak and Penang.

The royal couple are expected to have an audience with His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong XV, Sultan Muhammad V at Istana Negara.

Treadell at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur here today however has opted to keep mum about the couple's full schedules, citing security reasons.

She was equally upbeat in sharing her positive sentiments about the visit.

Treadell said the UK High Commission in Malaysia will utilise its social media accounts for public to receive information to see the royal couple.

The royal couple will tour Malaysia for five days, the longest in the tour after Singapore and India.

She highlighted that the relationship between the two nations run deeper than just diplomatic ties.

She added that the royal households of Malaysia and the UK have strong ties, beyond the very diverse relationshipsby the people and businesses.

Treadell also said that strengthening the relationship with countries outside of the EU including Malaysia is paramount to prepare itself for a “UK outside of the EU”.

She added that this is important seeing that most of the global growth in the future is slated to happen outside of EU.

The culmination of their visit is in Georgetown, Penang, which was originally named ‘Prince of Wales Island’ to meet members of different religious and ethnic communities who coexist peacefully in the UNESCO World Heritage site.

One of the key events in the programme include a gala dinner to be attended by minister and representative from business, arts and culture in Malaysia.

Treadell added that the visit will be a precursor to the Commonwealth Summits to be held in the UK in 2018 and Malaysia in 2020.

This will be Prince Charles and Camilla’s first visit to Malaysia following the visit by Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh, who attended the Official Opening of the 16th Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in September 1998 and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to Malaysia in September 2012.

Relationship between Malaysia and UK encompasses a wide range of areas including education, trade and culture and tourism.

Malaysia is the UK’s second largest export market in ASEAN and the UK is Malaysia’s third largest trading partner in Europe.

In the field of education, there are currently more than 18,000 Malaysians studying in the UK.