Chirac starts visit to Malaysia

Chirac starts visit to Malaysia

LANGKAWI, Malaysia (Reuters): Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad welcomed French President Jacques Chirac
yesterday for a two-day working visit during which Mahathir was
expected to raise his plans for new currency trading rules.

The two leaders were also likely to discuss a $2 billion gas
deal involving Malaysian, French and Russian companies in Iran,
which is being probed by the United States.

Mahathir greeted the French leader on Malaysia's northern
resort island of Langkawi, where Chirac arrived after attending a
summit of Francophone leaders in Vietnam.

Today, Mahathir was to meet Chirac for bilateral discussions
and Malaysian officials said he was likely to bring up his plan
for new rules to govern international currency trading.

Southeast Asian currencies have plunged against the dollar
since a financial crisis erupted in Thailand in July, and
Mahathir has promoted a plan to introduce regulations in foreign
exchange trading.