Rustam Minnikhanov meets King of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim

On 8 august in the Kazan Kremlin the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov had a meeting with the king of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim who is visiting Kazan within the framework of his first official trip to Russia. Previously he had a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Speaking at the meeting, Rustam Minnikhanov emphasized that Malaysia plays an important role in the Islamic world, makes its contribution into a sustainable world development and is one of the most important partners of Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. “Your country's chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening regional security, progressive economic development and social and cultural cooperation. We hope that Russian-Malaysian relations will also continue to develop. Tatarstan is ready to actively contribute to this,” the Rais of the republic said.
He stated that experience of Malaysia in many spheres and its developed market of Islamic finances, Halal products and services raise great interest in the whole world including Russia. Tatarstan takes an active part in the development of Russia-Malaysia cooperation. Rustam Minnikhanov thanked the King for a warm welcome given to delegations from the republic in during their visits in August and December last year. During his trip in December the Rais of the republic held a field meeting of the Strategic Vision Group “Russia-the Islamic world” in Kuala-Lumpur. “Last year we met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim three times and are very grateful to him for his personal attention to issues of cooperation with Tatarstan,” he said.
In May this year Anwar Ibrahim was the guest of honor at the 16th International Economic Forum “Russia-the Islamic World: KazanForum” and a meeting of the Strategic Vision Group in Kazan, and Rustam Minnikhanov stated: “It is gratifying that this year there was a special round table “Russia-Malaysia” organized at the KazanForum. We are definitely looking forward to seeing Malaysian delegations at the next forum in May next year.”
He also reminded that a representative delegation from Malaysia took part in the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024 and later it became a BRICS partner-country.
The Rais of Tatarstan informed that the republic has bonds with a number of regions of Malaysia, in particular with the states of Johor and Sarawak and according to results of the last year there was a mutual turnover increase. The positive dynamics continues this year, he said and added that the republic is ready to continue work with oil, gas and petrochemical companies.
Rustam Minnikhanov also mentioned good prospects for joint work in agriculture, Halal industry and high end technologies and invited Malaysian colleagues to take part in the International Forum Kazan Digital Week in the coming September.
He said that international youth cooperation is an important factor in strengthening long term relations between Russia and Malaysia and reminded work done by the international network of school diplomacy clubs and reminded about his visiting the International Youth Center Kuala-Lumpur and schoolchildren from Malaysia and Tatarstan taking part in the international school camp “Friends” held in Kazan and Kuala-Lumpur in the current year.
Rustam Minikhanov also invited partners from Malaysia to take part in events to be held in Kazan next year and reminded that the republic is a pilot region of introducing Islamic banking and financing which are another promising sphere for interaction. The Rais of the republic thanked the King of Malaysia for the training in the State Policy and Islamic finances which public servants from Tatarstan passed in Malaysia and emphasized the importance of humanitarian contacts in education, culture, tourism and sports.
“I sincerely wish you a pleasant and productive stay in Tatarstan. I assure you of my desire to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with Malaysia within the framework of Russian-Malaysian relations,” Rustam Minnikhanov concluded.
In his turn the King of Malaysia said: “My dear friend!  I am very touched by the warm welcome and wonderful hospitality I have received here. Earlier I had a friendly and constructive meeting with Vladimir Putin. He spoke very highly of Tatarstan, the natural beauty of your region and the republic's achievements in technology and innovation.”
He stated that the current visit to Kazan is a confirmation of the commitment of Malaysia to expanding and deepening cooperation with Tatarstan. Sultan Ibrahim also highly praised the work of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group, headed by Rustam Minnikhanov.
“There is great potential to strengthen our economic cooperation in petrochemicals, innovations, Islamic finances and the Halal sector. Academic exchanges between our universities are growing. Resuming direct flights between Russia and Malaysia also looks very promising. This will open new ways for the development of tourism and trade. I hope to see more tourists and students from Tatarstan in Malaysia.   I sincerely hope that this visit to your republic will give a new impetus to strengthening relations between Malaysia and Tatarstan,” Sultan Ibrahim concluded.