KUCHING: Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg will make his first official visit as president of the Regional Islamic Da’wah Council of Southeast Asia and the Pacific (RISEAP) to New Zealand from Sunday.
This will be the Premier’s first official visit to a member country since his election as president of RISEAP earlier this year.
The Premier and his entourage comprising Deputy Minister for Utility and Telecommunication II, who is in charge of Islamic affairs Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi, State Mufti Datuk Kipli Yasin, RISEAP Honorary Secretary Datuk Mohamad Marzuki bin Mohamad Omar is scheduled to arrive in Auckland just before midnight on Sunday.
Abang Johari will be received at Auckland airport by members of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) led by the federation’s president, Ibrar Sheikh.
On Monday morning, the Premier is scheduled to meet representatives from Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Later, he will meet imams and FIANZ officials at Al Rahman mosque in South Auckland before taking part in a tree-planting ceremony and visiting another mosque in the afternoon.
The Premier and his entourage will end the visit on Wednesday.
RISEAP, now comprising 24 member countries was formed in 1980 with the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister as its founding president, primarily to bring together Muslim-minority countries in East Asia and the Pacific to pursue collective ambitions in the Islamic cause.
