KUALA LUMPUR: "Malaysians are always hospitable, with big, open arms.

"I've been here thrice," he said at the presentation of accounting firm Grant Thornton's inaugural Corporate Leader of the Year Award to businessman Datuk Vinod Sekhar of the Petra Group.

The event was held at the Kuala Lumpur Hilton Hotel in KL Sentral, Brickfields, yesterday and attended by International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Sekhar chose the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environment Studies (FARES), which Gibson chairs, as the award's beneficiary. FARES is involved in conservation at the Mirador Basin Project in Guatemala.

The annual award honours individuals committed to corporate social responsibility.

Gibson will begin shooting his latest film, The Edge Of Darkness, in the United States next month.