Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was in New York on Wednesday to hold talks with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Wisma Putra said in a statement, reported by Bernama that the visit to New York is a continuation of the foreign minister's earlier visits to Dublin on May 19 and Moscow the following day, aimed at making immediate contacts with the members of the quartet comprising the European Union, the Russian Federation, the United Nations and the United States.

Malaysia, the current chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), arranged the contacts with the quartet following the Putrajaya Declaration on Palestine, adopted by the Special Meeting on the Middle East held in Putrajaya on April 22.

In the meeting with Annan, Syed Hamid is leading the OIC ministerial delegation comprising State Minister of Morocco Abbes Al-Fassi, Palestinian Minister of Negotiations Dr Saeb Irikat, Foreign Affairs Minister of Senegal Cheikh Tidiane Gadio and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Abdullah Gul.