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The Embassy of Malaysia in Washington, D.C. hosted a forum discussion with the Washington Inter-Governmental Professional Group (WIGPG) on 3 March 2009. The WIGPG in essence has been around for more than 15 years and is a non-partisan, professional organization that is dedicated in work closely with the diplomatic community and to foster deeper cooperation and understanding in the fields of foreign policy, trade and investment.

The programme began with a 7-minute DVD presentation of Malaysia’s tourism industry followed by remarks by Mr. Nelson Garcia, the WIGPG’s Chairman to the Embassy of Malaysia for agreeing to host the forum. He did an excellent job of describing Malaysia as a country with a lot of potential in terms of political stability and good investment returns.

In his opening speech, Mr. Ilango Karuppannan, CDA a.i. welcomed the Group and thanked the Group’s Chairman, who headed the 32 member delegation.

The session began with the CDA’s speech about Malaysia. He then introduced the various Heads of Departments in the Embassy who took part in the forum namely:

i) Mr. Isham Ishak- Minister-Counselor (Trade)

ii) Mr. Ram Singh - Agriculture Attaché

iii) Ms. Rosidah Radzian- Science Attaché

iv) LTC Hishamuddin - Assistant Defense Attaché

v) Ms. Siti Zubaidah- Education Attaché/ Director

vi) Dr. Esah Sieh-Yip- MREPC

vii) Mr. Arham Ahmad- Director MIDA New York

vii) Mr. Wan Latiff - MATRADE

After a brief introduction of the respective HODs and their roles at the Embassy, the session continued with Questions and Answers from the members of the Group. The Q&A session was a lively one with quality questions from the guest who showed great interest in Malaysia’s development, trade and investment, and socio-politics.

A reception was later held where the guests were treated with authentic Malaysian buffet dinner. The guests were then invited to the Tun Ismail Hall to view the Embassy’s Art Exhibition. The event seemed too short for the guests to enjoy as they were very impressed with the Embassy’s art décor and paintings.