KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) — Bilateral trade between Malaysia and Russia is expected to grow tremendously in the future following a successful meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and local businessmen today.
Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Dr Micheal Yeoh said during the meeting, Lavrov had shown interest for more Russian businesses to be involved in Malaysia.
“We talked about business opportunities where Malaysian businessmen share their views about doing business in Russia and proposing the idea of the Russians being more involved with Islamic finance products.
“There are also suggestions about having more Russian tourists to come to Malaysia, about the different infrastructure projects that we can share and also on property development,” he told reporters after the meeting, here.
Last year, bilateral trade between Russia and Malaysia amounted to US$3.3 billion, up by 25 per cent as compared to 2013.
Yeoh also hoped that there would be some partnerships between Malaysian and Russian banks in the future in order to develop the Islamic finance industry particularly the sukuk market.
Meanwhile, AirAsia X Bhd Acting Chief Executive Officer Benyamin Ismail did not rule out any possibility to expand the routes of the long-haul, low-cost affiliate carrier of the AirAsia Group to Russia in the future in order to boost tourism industry between both countries.
“This (the meeting) is a good platform for us to meet the ambassador and let us see where we can go from here. We will look into any possible (new) destinations and I think Russia is one of the destinations that we can reach.
“It is still in the preliminary phase and this meeting is a good star?t. But it’s not anytime soon. It’s (the negotiation) probably going to start in two years’ time,” he said.
— BERNAMA