On March 1, the "Russia in the South Seas" international online conference took place in commemoration of the 55th anniversary of Russia and Malaysia's diplomatic relations.
The conference was launched by Russian Ambassador to Malaysia, Naiyl Latypov, who appealed to make wider use of the opportunities that exist here to promote the legacy left by explorer Miklukho-Maclay.
The Russian House and the embassy are ready to provide all assistance in this, he said.
He also stated the need for both to develop solid, overarching strategies and initiatives to achieve a long-term and sustainable cooperation.
The welcoming speeches were delivered by the head of the Russian House in Kuala Lumpur, Svetlana Kovaleva, and the head of the Department for Relations with International Organisations of St Petersburg, Alexander Balabanov.
A number of Russian scholars participated, including Dr Sofia Pale, Dr Alexey Antoshin, Dr Ekaterina Astafieva, Dr Almira Nagimova, Dr Polina Pogadaeva, Dr Azman Ayob and the founder and director of the Miklukho-Maclay Foundation, N.N. Miklukho-Maclay, and others. Of course, the main attention was the history of Russian-Malaysian relations and their prospects.
The changing situation in the region in the 1960s paved the way for mutual approaches. Direct contacts between the Soviet Union and Malaysia were held in September 1966 in Moscow, and on April 3, 1967 diplomatic relations were established and a trade agreement was signed.
In 1970, the first group of Russian students consisting of four people arrived in Kuala Lumpur to study Malay at the Universiti Malaya (I'm proud to be one among them). In December 1991, the Russian Federation was recognised as the successor to Soviet rights.
Since then, relations developed dynamically. An important event occurred in June 1994, when a contract for the supply of MiG-29 was signed.
During the 2013 Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition in Lang-kawi, the Russian company Sukhoi and the Malaysian Defence Ministry signed a contract worth US$100 million. More opportunities for trade and economic cooperation opened in December 2005, with the signing of an agreement on cooperation between the chambers of commerce of the two countries.
There is also cooperation in the energy sector. Petronas, since 2006 became the owner of the share package, Rosneft (US$1.1 billion). In the framework of a memorandum of understanding signed in November 2006, the companies agreed on cooperation in oil mining and processing in Russia and third countries, as well as in the production of liquefied natural gas.
A dynamic component of Russian-Malaysian relations is cooperation in aerospace. In December 2006, the Malaysian Measat-3 telecommunications satellite was launched with a Russian rocket carrier from the Baikonur rocket launch site.
An important moment was Malaysia's first astronaut (Datuk Dr) Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's launch to the International Space Station with Russian assistance on Oct 10, 2007.
Contacts at the highest level contributed to relations too. Prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein (1972), Tun Hussein Onn (1979) and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (1987, 2002) visited Moscow. Dr Mahathir made a working visit in 1999 to Buryatia and Khabarovsk, and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi visited in 2007.
Dr Mahathir is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and Tun Abdullah an honorary doctor of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations University.
In November 1998, Russian prime minister E.M. Primakov visited Malaysia to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Vladimir Putin visited Malaysia twice -— in 2003 to participate in the Islamic Conference summit and in 2005 to attend the Asean summit. In 2016, Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak participated in the Russia-Asean Summit.
In Russia, active research is being carried out on Malaysia.
Dozens of books on the politics, economy, culture of this country and dictionaries of the Malay language have been published. Translations of works by Malaysian authors into Russian have also been done.
In this regard, all participants in the March 1 conference share the opinion that both countries' relations will continue to move forward.
The writer, writing from Russia, is a former lecturer of Universiti Malaya
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times