MALAYSIA: 63ND UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY HIGH-LEVEL

UNCLAS KUALA LUMPUR 000646 SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR IO/UNP - SUN, P - REINEMEYER, EAP/RSP - TIKVART USUN NSC FOR MCDONALD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL OTRA OVIP KSEP UNGA MY SUBJECT: MALAYSIA: 63ND UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY HIGH-LEVEL ATTENDANCE REF: STATE 72078 - INSTRUCTIONS ¶1. (SBU) Malaysia's Foreign Ministry cannot yet confirm high-level attendance at the 2008 UN General Assembly. According to Nazarudin Ja'afar, Principal Assistant Secretary in the Ministry's Multilateral Political Affairs Division, United Nations and Disarmament Office, information on UNGA attendance will be forthcoming sometime in late August. ¶2. (SBU) Based on past precedent and informal remarks by Malaysian officials, we believe it very unlikely that Malaysia's head of state, the King, would attend UNGA. We believe that head of government, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, with his wife Jeanne Abdullah, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rais Yatim, and his wife Masnah Muhamat, will attend. In addition, Foreign Ministry Secretary General Rastam Mohd Isa and his wife Norizan Sulaiman are likely to attend. ¶3. (U) We will follow up with the Foreign Ministry in the coming weeks. KEITH