Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will be on a three-day working visit to Milan from Friday to further enhance Malaysia-Italy ties.
The Malaysian ambassador to Italy, Abdul Samad Othman told Malaysian journalists in the fashion capital today that Kuala Lumpur-Rome ties were very dynamic, active, and expected to further improve in future.
Najib and wife, Rosmah Mansor, are expected to arrive on Friday morning accompanied by Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed, and Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz.
While here, he will attend a Malaysia Day reception at Expo Milano 2015 on Saturday morning and will launch ‘Malaysia Food Festival’ at the Malaysia pavilion.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi sent Najib an official invitation to attend the world’s largest expo that is held once every four years.
Malaysia is among 147 countries participating in Expo Milan 2015, which started in May and ends on Oct 30. The Malaysia pavillion is always a huge hit among visitors, having attracted 2.3 million visitors thus far, exceeding the 1.8 million target.
What this official waffle has failed to include is the real reason for Najib Razak’s choice of Milan, of all places, as his one stop in continental Europe during his grand world tour.
We can reveal this to be his obligatory attendance at his wife’s annual Islamic Fashion Show event, of which she is so inordinately fond.
This year the extravagant event is to be staged in Milan and Najib has never yet got out of attending it.
Rosmah has always seen the somewhat unlikely occasion as her best stab at social climbing amongst the supposed jet set glitterati – Monaco, London and even last year Windsor Castle have offered previous locations for her to mingle with the super-wealthy.
The Malaysian ‘First Lady’ herself is plainly no clothes horse, making her fascination with haute couture at first seem baffling.
However, she can clearly take heart that although she may not be the tallest and slimmest guest at this occasion, she will certainly be plonked centre stage and she will probably be the richest person there.