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MALAYSIAN DIPLOMATS: OUR STORIES

established since 1965, at all levels of government to government, business
to business, and people to people relations.

Mission Abuja is similar to other Malaysian missions of a three-man
formation, comprising Head of Mission, Head of Chancery and T ird
Secretary. Additionally, we have a Trade Commissioner in Lagos. Initially
Mission Abuja was in Lagos but in August 2006, it was relocated to Abuja,
the new capital city of Nigeria.

A diplomat’s nature of work is diplomacy. It is a skill both acquired and
innate which needs to be maximised in order to achieve successful result.
Upon arriving at post, I actively engaged with fellow Heads of Mission
(HOMs), diplomats and Nigerian Government of cials through various
activities and functions including recreational activities. Continuous and
close communications with other HOMs in these modern days, especially via
WhatsApp and other platform of communications are crucial. T e HOMs’
WhatsApp group hosted by the High Commissioner of Cameroon, the
Dean of Diplomatic Corps, is our daily communication tool. I initiated the
informal grouping of lady HOMs in Abuja and we actively engage with each
other via a “Zoom” meeting every Friday morning. T ere are currently eight
lady HOMs comprising Benin, Cuba, Germany, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Poland, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

I actively participated in the ASEAN Committee in Abuja (ACA) and was
chairman in 2018. T e ACA comprises the Mission of Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, T ailand and Vietnam. Constant and active engagements
with Nigeria’s business community and states in Nigeria are important,
particularly through good cooperation between the Chancery and the Trade
Commission in Lagos. A remarkable increase in the total value of bilateral
trade in 2020 for Malaysia and Nigeria by 17.33 per cent at USD845.6
million (RM3.55 billion) from USD669.1 million (RM2.9 billion) in 2019,
is a testament of our ef orts.

On 18 March 2020, Nigeria joined other countries af ected by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Mission Abuja successfully assisted and co-organised
two repatriations, on 22 June 2020 involving 27 Malaysians, and on 10
July 2020 involving 92 passengers, comprising 25 Malaysians and other

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