Russia and Malaysia

Malaysia nowadays is one of the main Russia's trading partners in the South East Asia, Russia in its turn is the leading trading partner of Malaysia in the Europe and CIS region. Relations between our countries are characterized by stability, trust, friendship and mutually beneficial. During a meeting last year in Sochi, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak reiterated the key principles of cooperation and outlined ways for development. Two leaders discussed prospects for the two countries’ relations, in particular in the humanitarian sphere, the economy, investment, and military-technical cooperation.

At the meeting in Sochi President of Russia Vladimir Putin said: ‘Next year, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. It is a pleasure to see the positive development in our relations, and all the more pleasing to say that we see this development in practically all areas.

As I looked through various reference materials, I saw that 15 percent of all doctors in your country received their training at Russian universities. We are very happy to continue developing our humanitarian ties, as well as our economic and investment ties, and of course, our military-technical cooperation and relations in the military sector too.’

Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak was agreed with these thoughts: ‘I do thank you for all of the arrangements you have made, and particularly for the opportunity for us to be here in this beautiful resort of Sochi. I’d like to compliment you for creating this beautiful resort and I’m sure it will be one of the resorts that will be admired around the world.

I think we have come to the stage where we can move our bilateral and multilateral ties to a stronger footing so that we can take advantage of the opportunities both in ASEAN as well as with respect to the developments in Russia. On the economic front, we are quite pleased with the level of trade between our two countries, although in the first two months of this year the figures had a slight drop, understandably given the global economic situation. But we believe that if we can explore with a means to increase — significantly increase — our level of bilateral trade, this will certainly strengthen our bilateral ties.

In this respect, I’d like to suggest that we look into the distinct possibility of embarking on a free trade arrangement between Malaysia and the EAEU in the near future because we see that such an arrangement could lead to a significant increase in our bilateral trade and even investment.

We would also like to consider greater connectivity between our two countries. Tourism is a sector that can promote our bilateral ties, not only business-to-business, but also people-to-people. Given the security concerns in many other places in the world, Malaysia can provide Russian tourists with a safe haven for their holidays abroad, so we would like to see more charter flights into Malaysia and begin exploring direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Moscow and other parts of Russia.’

In Sochi Vladimir Putin hosted a reception in honor of the heads of delegations taking part in the Russia-ASEAN Summit and held a number of bilateral meetings with the heads of the delegations to the summit. Welcoming the participants, Vladimir Putin said: ‘It is a genuine pleasure to welcome the heads of delegations and all guests from the ASEAN countries to Russia, to Sochi, a city renowned for its warmth and hospitality, and a city that has also now become a symbol of the Olympic movement, the essence of which is to bring people together. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the partnership between Russia and ASEAN. Right from the start, our cooperation was built on the principles of mutual advantage and respect for each other’s interests. We also share similar approaches to resolving many of today’s problems. This is the first time Russia is hosting a meeting in this format. We view this as confirmation of the ASEAN countries’ growing interest in stronger ties with our country.

We have prepared for this summit the Sochi Declaration, which sets out our main task — to take the partnership between Russia and ASEAN to a new, strategic level. This will enable us to make better use of our potential to develop cooperation in the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields, and of course, to work together on regional and international security issues.

It is important that both Russia and the ASEAN countries support stronger integration and links between the big economic projects underway in the Asia-Pacific region. Tomorrow, we will discuss the prospects for developing a broad trans-boundary partnership between the Eurasian Economic Union, ASEAN, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.’

The meetings between Vladimir Putin and Najib Razak in Vladivostok and in Beijing, which took place four and two years ago, also were historical for both countries.

In Vladivostok President of Russia said: ‘We are developing very kind, good, constructive relations with your nation. Earlier, it was due to the support of your nation specifically that Russia became an observer in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Since then, we have been developing constructive relations in all areas, including our economic relations. At overall we have positive trends. I am referring to such areas as cooperation in air and space: with our support, the first Malaysian astronaut went into space. I am also referring to prospects for cooperation in aviation and other areas.’

Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak: ‘Once again, congratulations for hosting APEC, and congratulations for your accession to the World Trade Organization. So many congratulations in order. I share with Your Excellency that our bilateral relations are based on very strong footing. They are very constructive relations spanning many years. You rightly said that with your assistance, we put our first man into space, and we have entered into some very important defence procurement with your country. I oversaw those practices when I was defence minister, especially the last one, with the purchase of the Sukhoi Su-30MKM – that equipment is serving us well. But the time has come for us to broaden the relationship and to look into new areas of cooperative relationship with you.’

Two years later, at a meeting in Beijing President of Russia Vladimir Putin said: ‘As for our bilateral ties, they continue their development, including in the economy. Our bilateral trade increased 1.5-fold last year, and grew by a further 30 percent over the first nine months of this year. Of course, we always need to discuss the current situation too and look at the prospects ahead.’

The Russian-Malaysian trade and economic relations are regulated by the Agreement on Economic Cooperation (signed 2000) and Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation (1987) and it were greatly contributed by signing of the protocol on completion of bilateral talks with Malaysia on Russian accession to the WTO (December, 2005). The new trade possibilities arise from signing of the cooperation agreement between Russian and Malaysian Chambers of Commerce in December 2005. The Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation between Russia and Malaysia was signed in 2003.

Russia's exports to Malaysia is mostly dominated by chemical fertilizers and other chemical products, rolled metals and metal products and less by machines and equipment (mainly spare parts for aircraft equipment). Imports consist of home E&E appliances, palm oil and palm oil products, plastics, cocoa powder and cocoa butter.

Both countries pay attention to promotion of scientific and technical ties. A number of talks were held between ministers of science and technology of Russia and Malaysia on a wide scope of joint projects - in Moscow and in Kuala Lumpur. The first Malaysian micro satellite was orbited by a Russian launcher in September 2000. In December 2006 the satellite "MEASAT-3" was also launched by a Russian rocket. Under the Russian-Malaysian cooperation project in the space field the launch of the first Malaysian astronaut to the international space station is scheduled in October 2007. Regular contacts have been maintained between Russian and Malaysian specialists in the fields of meteorology, space exploration, Antarctic studies. The latest Russian technologies are presented in Malaysia.

Perspective areas of interaction in the field of modern information and telecommunication technologies were considered during exchange of visits by representatives of the Ministry of Communication and Informatization of Russia and the Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia of Malaysia.

The Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism of Malaysia paid a visit to Moscow and St.Petersburg. He held negotiations with Russian agencies and tourist operators on the prospects of increasing tourist and cultural exchange.

An important component of bilateral cooperation is represented by the educational ties. Now the Russian institutions of higher education (medical) have about 2500 Malaysian students both on government and private basis. There are prospects of further increase of their number thanks to the official recognition by the Malaysian Side of the Russian diplomas in medicine.

The Russian students are constantly participating in the International Public Speaking Contest – Deputy Prime Minister's Trophy. In March 2007 student of the Asia and Africa Institute of the Moscow State University won the 1st place in the above mentioned contest.