BSC Shuttle Diplomacy Talks: Ambassador of Malaysia to BiH, H. E. Raja Saifful Ridzuwan bin Raja Kamaruddin
Within the series of Shuttle Diplomacy Talks organized by the IUS Balkan Studies Center (BSC), the second guest lecturer was Ambassador of Malaysia to BiH, His Excellency Raja Saifful Ridzuwan bin Raja Kamaruddin who visited IUS on Monday, May 8, 2023. During his talk, Mr. Kamaruddin focused on Malaysian strategies to engage the Western Balkans (WB).
His Excellency addressed the attendees and gave a brief history of Malaysian foreign policy whose aim and purpose is to advance and defend national interests at the international level.
Malaysian foreign policy is focused on monitoring and analyzing regional and global developments while upholding, protecting and promoting the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests. Since its independence in 1957, the country’s foreign policy has evolved from a newly independent nation focusing on the UK and USA, to bilateral agreements with other non-Western countries, such as Japan and South Korea mainly because they became major world forces after World War II. After the 1990s and the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country extended its presence in the Western Balkans as well.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A session where students and guests had an opportunity to learn more from the Ambassador. The most important question was related to Malaysian presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His Excellency explained that the relation between the two countries had its ups and downs and that the current policy is to activate the relations again especially in terms of economy by importing more Bosnian products into Malaysia. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a potential when it comes to food security and production and this is something that can be beneficial to both countries. In addition, he mentioned that there are some agreements that need to be signed with the BiH government that would foster more fruitful cooperation.
