Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said Malaysia's foreign policy would be pragmatic yet principled at all times.

Speaking at the Foreign Ministry in Putrajaya, he said a good foreign policy must be credible, enlightened and consistent.

"It must succeed in making Malaysia the preferred brand name in international relations," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

Abdullah, who once held the foreign minister post, said the ministry's officials must be top notch in order to maintain Malaysia's competitive edge in the international arena.

He also congratulated the ministry for chalking up several achievements, including securing for Malaysia the chairmanship of the OIC and the Non-Aligned Movement as well as winning the islands of Ligitan and Sipadan at the trial in the International Court of Justice.

OIC's role acknowledged

At a press conference later, Abdullah said the United States and Britain have acknowledged that the OIC can play a role in efforts to find solutions to the issues of Palestine and Iraq.

He said this was conveyed in letters sent to him by US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in response to the ones written to them recently.

"Prime Minister Blair in his letter did acknowledge that the OIC has a part and he expressed hope that this could be carried out to the best of OIC's ability so that peace could be achieved."

Abdullah said the British premier also stated his country's stand on both the situation in Iraq and Palestine.

He said the tone of Bush's response was similar to Blair's in that he too acknowledged the OIC's role in solving the problems in West Asia.

Abdullah said Bush also took the opportunity to reiterate his stand on Iraq and terrorism.

In his letters dated April 14 to the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council which include US and Britain, he called on them to initiate efforts to give the world body a central role in the affairs of Iraq.

In separate letters dated April 16 addressed to Bush, Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Abdullah said the UN should play a bigger role in Palestine through the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force or the placement of an international monitoring mechanism to monitor a peace "road map".

The letters were sent a few days before Malaysia, which currently chairs the OIC, convened a meeting of key Islamic nations to discuss the situation in Iraq and Palestine.

Israel's threat

Abdullah today was hopeful that the proposed meeting between an OIC delegation and the international quartet involved in devising the road map, would result in positive developments for the suffering Palestinians.

The quartet is made up of the UN, US, Russia and the European Union.

On the reported threat by Israel to harm Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Abdullah said this proved that the Jewish regime had no respect for international law and was bent on doing things its way.

He said the threat, if carried out, would worsen the already tense situation in Palestine.

"We can't accept this. This is a development that must be looked into in the meeting between the OIC delegation and the international quartet," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's reported remarks that he was no longer bound by an obligation made to the US not to assassinate Arafat had been widely criticised.