Wisma Putra, in a statement, said Hishammuddin will be leading the Malaysian delegation to the two-day inaugural Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Antalya, Turkey, to be officiated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.

“The Antalya Diplomacy Forum will explore the horizons of diplomacy across a range of key regional, global and thematic issues under the theme ‘Innovative Diplomacy: New Era, New Approaches’.

“The forum will be attended by leaders from more than 43 countries as well as policymakers, diplomats and academics from all over the world,” said the statement.

The statement said Hishammuddin will be a panellist for the session on “Regional Cooperation in Asia”, and is scheduled to have bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the forum with his counterpart from Turkey, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, and from Palestine, Riad Malki.

After Turkey, Hishammuddin will proceed with his working visit to Egypt from June 20-21. This will be his first visit to the North African country.

During the visit, he is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and will have a bilateral meeting with his counterpart, Sameh Hassan Shoukry.

“He will also have an engagement with the chairman of the Suez Canal Special Economic Zone (SCZone),” it added.

The working visits will be subjected to strict Covid-19 preventative SOPs, as agreed upon by the health ministry, National Security Council as well as the relevant authorities in Turkey and Egypt.