PUTRAJAYA, July 28 (Bernama) — Russia, as the current chair of BRICS today, gave assurance to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the country would extend its support to Malaysia’s aspiration to join the intergovernmental organisation.
The Malaysian Foreign Ministry in a statement said the assurance was conveyed to Anwar during courtesy call by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at the Seri Perdana on Sunday.
Lavrov was on a two-day working visit to Malaysia beginning Saturday.
During the meeting, Anwar and Lavrov discussed the long-standing bilateral ties between Malaysia and Russia, the statement added.
Earlier today, Bernama reported the Prime Minister as saying that Malaysia has sent an application to Russia to join the BRICS.
On June 18, Anwar confirmed Malaysia’s intention to join BRICS to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
BRICS, which initially included Brazil, Russia, India, and China, was established in 2009 as a cooperation platform for emerging economies, with South Africa joining the bloc in 2010.
The bloc now has been expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
The statement further said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Lavrov had a bilateral meeting at Wisma Putra, where they took stock and discussed existing cooperation between the two countries across a wide range of areas.
These include in trade and investment, Halal industry and Islamic banking, defence, science and technology, education including TVET, and tourism, as well as the exchange of high-level visits, the statement added.
“The Foreign Ministry said both sides committed to enhancing closer collaboration through existing bilateral mechanisms, particularly the Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation.
“Both Foreign Ministers also briefly touched on regional and international issues, including the situation in Palestine,” it added.
According to the statement, both Foreign Ministers were in Vientiane, Laos from July 26 to 27 to participate in the ASEAN-Russia Post Ministerial Conference and the ASEAN Regional Forum where they extensively discussed ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Relations and regional and international issues of common concern.
The two Foreign Ministers also exchanged Diplomatic Notes on Cooperation between Malaysia’s Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the statement said.
In 2023, Russia ranked as Malaysia’s 8th largest trading partner among European countries. Total bilateral trade increased by 15.6 per cent to RM14.22 billion (US$3.1 billion), compared with RM12.3 billion (US$2.79 billion) in 2022.
— BERNAMA
