Kerry: President Obama will visit Malaysia soon
KUALA LUMPUR: US Secretary of State John Kerry called Malaysia a great country and gave his assurance that President Barack Obama will make up for his absence Friday by visiting the country soon.
Obama, who was scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit here, was represented by Kerry as the president had to address the US federal government shutdown.
Kerry said Obama was disappointed to have to skip the summit as he was very committed to the cause, which acts as a platform to facilitate the exchange of views and ideas between global business leaders and entrepreneurs.
"This summit is very close to President Obama's heart.
"I'm sure you understand that the events that kept Obama away.
"I assure you that he will be in Malaysia soon," he said.
Kerry also highlighted Malaysia's success in generating entrepreneurs in a multicultural setting.
"Malaysia negara hebat (Malaysia is a great country.) "When other countries were discovering the world wide web in the 1990s, Malaysia created Cyberjaya, a wired city with high speed Internet," he said.
He also cited shoemaker Datuk Jimmy Choo and AirAsia founder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes as Malaysia's success stories.
THE STAR
