Deputy PM Of Malaysia Muhyiddin To Visit UAE On Monday

ABU DHABI (UAE), May 7 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to deliver a keynote address at the Transforming Education Summit (TES) this Wednesday as part of his three-day official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which begins Monday. Muhyiddin, who is on his first official trip to Abu Dhabi after assuming the post of Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in April 2009, is attending the first ever summit, which is organised by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC). Charge d'affaires of the Malaysian embassy in UAE, Abdullah Ma'amor Ibrahim said apart from Muhyiddin, former British prime minister Gordon Brown and former Finland president Tarja Halonen were also expected to deliver their talks. "Muhyiddin will share the Malaysian experience in education, in the keynote address titled 'Leading Across – How Do Effective Government Leaders Engage Across Sectors?'," he told Malaysian reporters, here, Sunday. He said Muhyiddin was invited by the organisers, under the patronage of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed Zayid Al Nahyan. "It is an exclusive event that will bring together some 200 of the worlds's most accomplished political, business and philanthropic leaders, current and former ministers of education and education experts to discuss transformational education reform. "This is in line with the government's initiatives under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Tranformation Programme (ETP)," he said. Abdullah Ma'amor said TES was organised in close partnership with the Directorate for Education of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He said TES would also share success stories and lessons learned through implementing transformational education reform while recognising the most serious challenges involved when engaging stakeholders and driving change. Abdullah Ma'amor said Muhyiddin was scheduled to meet his counterpart, UAE Minister of Education Humaid Mohamed Obaid Al-Qatami to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues. "Muhyiddin is also scheduled to visit a model school and attend a gathering with Malaysians in Abu Dhabi tomorrow," he said. There are about 6,000 Malaysians in UAE with 2,000 of them, mostly professionals working in Abu Dhabi, and 2,000 more in Dubai. In terms of trade, the figure reached RM21 billion last year. Compared to the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, UAE is the biggest export market for Malaysia. In 2011, it was five to six per cent growth in trade between the two countries which involved Malaysian export items such as electrical and electronic products, palm oil and building materials, while Malaysia imported mostly oil and gas products from the Arab country. -- BERNAMA