Malaysian PM Congratulates Morsi for Swearing-In Ceremony

KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Razak has sent a congratulatory message to Mohammed Morsi in conjunction with the latter's swearing-in ceremony as the new President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, which was held on Saturday. According to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Malaysian prime minister expressed his confidence that under Morsi's able leadership the transformation process towards democracy in Egypt would make significant progress. "Najib is optimistic that with the president's dynamism, Egypt will continue to play its important role in the international scene for the betterment of the Muslim ummah and people of the world," said the statement on Saturday. Najib also stated that he looked forward to working closely with Morsi to explore new potential areas of cooperation, in addition to further strengthening the existing close and brotherly relations between Malaysia and Egypt. Morsi was declared Egypt's new President on June 24 after narrowly defeating another contender Ahmed Shafiq by garnering 51.7 per cent of the votes. Morsi clinched 13,230,131 votes to Shafiq's 12,347,380 votes. -- BERNAMA