KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim on Saturday consented to the conferring of the Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara (DMN) award to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who is currently in Malaysia on a two-day state visit.

Abdel Fattah was conferred the award at Istana Negara in a special ceremony at Dewan Seri Maharaja prior to a state banquet hosted in honour of the Egyptian leader, who arrived in the country on Friday.

Also at the ceremony were Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, dignitaries, and an Egyptian delegation.

Earlier, Abdel Fattah was accorded a state welcoming ceremony the Istana Negara parade square upon his arrival at 10.08am.

Abdel Fattah’s visit, at the invitation of Sultan Ibrahim, is the first by an Egyptian president to Malaysia for nearly three decades. The last visit, by former president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, took place in November 1997 when he attended the G15 Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Mubarak also undertook an official visit as the Egyptian Vice President in 1979.

Malaysia and Egypt have established diplomatic relations since 1959.

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