Najib in Australia for CHOGM
He has scheduled bilateral meetings with several leaders, beginning in the morning.
Malaysian High Commission to Australia Datuk Salman Ahmad told a media briefing that first on his programme is a scheduled bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the morning.
This is the third time Australia is hosting CHOGM.
Gillard, quoted by the Australian Press, has indicated that she expected to raise the issue of the failed refugee swap deal between Australia and Malaysia, with Najib.
She said this was to keep him ‘updated on the government’s position.
She had told local reporters that Australia’s policy was that her government would be able to implement the arrangement with Malaysia.
The Gillard government’s plan to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in exchange for 4,000 processed refugees was scuttled by the High Court in August.
The opposition blocked the government’s plans to change migration laws for off-shore processing.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott opposes the programme because Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Treatment of Refugees and instead proposes offshore processing on the Pacific Island of Nauru.
The Greens oppose offshore processing in any form.
Najib, later, will hold bilateral talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka will host the next CHOGM in 2013.
In the afternoon, he will meet with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and later in the evening, with Commonwealth secretary-general Kamalesh Sharma.
On Friday, the Prime Minister is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister David Cameron, South African President Jacob Zuma and Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of CHOGM.
Tomorrow, he will attend the Commonwealth Business Forum where he will deliver a keynote address, "Building Infrastructure for the 21st Century" at the Burswood Entertainment Complex here.
He will also chair a roundtable meeting with selected business leaders to discuss opportunities and prospects of trade and investment in Malaysia on the same day.
While at the complex, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to witness the signing of an MoU In Standardisation between Malaysia and Uganda.
Salman also said the Prime Minister, who is accompanied here by his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, will join some 300 Malaysians in an evening of Aussie-style barbecue in Burswood park here before leaving Perth.
Najib joins 52 world leaders at this biennial meeting which begins Friday at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in the city's central business district.
With the Prime Minister in Perth are Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.
The theme this year is "Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience".
This year, 53 countries are represented. Fiji, will not be attending as it was suspended from membership in September 2009 pending restoration of a democratically elected government.
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