The groundwork for the establishment of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), as it was initially called, was initiated a year prior to Independence particularly with through the training of a batch of eleven diplomats to man the country's diplomatic missions overseas.

[2] Initially, Malaysia had diplomatic missions in London, New York City with a concurrent office in Washington D.C., Canberra, New Delhi, Jakarta and Bangkok.

In 1963, there were fourteen Malaysian missions and twenty-five countries were represented in Malaysia (four by way of concurrent accreditation).

In 1966, there was an accelerated growth pattern of the Foreign Ministry particularly with regard to the personnel and the financial allocation for its activities.

From its original premises at the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the Ministry moved to Wisma Putra.