Prime Minister Najib Razak left for the United States tonight for visits to Washington and New York from April 10 to 16.

Najib, who was accompanied by his wife Rosmah Mansor, flew off in a government aircraft at 9.20pm from the KL International Airport (KLIA).

NONE Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his wife, Norainee Abdul Rahman, and several cabinet ministers were among those who saw them off at the airport.

Najib is scheduled to attend the Nuclear Security Summit on April 12 and 13 in Washington at the invitation of US President Barack Obama.

He is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Obama, on the sidelines of the summit, to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues.

Najib is also expected to meet with senior US officials, members of Congress and US business leaders.

Keynote speech at CSIS

The prime minister is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as well as the Trade and Investment Summit at the American Chamber of Commerce and address a luncheon meeting at the Asia Society in New York.

Najib will also witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) as well as an agreement between Microsoft and Hitech Padu.

The prime minister is also scheduled to launch the ‘Faces of Malaysia Showcase’, a special programme to promote Malaysia among Americans and foster better relations between the people of both countries.

Najib's visit to the United States is his second as prime minister. He first visited Washington and New York from Sept 22 to 25 last year when enroute to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.

Earlier this evening, Najib and Rosmah returned from Hanoi where Najib had attended the 16th Asean Summit hosted by Vietnam.

- Bernama