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President Vladimir Putin: Mr Deputy Prime Minister,
Relations between our countries are developing well, and, as I said during my meeting with the Prime Minister, we very much hope that as Malaysia’s upcoming change of leadership takes place, your relations with Russia will continue to develop as they are now.
Overall, the prospects for furthering our bilateral relations look very positive. Above all, this is because we have acted so far, and are acting today, completely in line with the national interests of our two countries.
The Prime Minister and yourself belong to the same party, so we hope that his policy will be continued.
The Prime Minister and I discussed another question today that goes beyond the framework of bilateral relations. As you are aware, there are about 20 million Muslims living in Russia. This is more Muslims than live in Malaysia, even though Malaysia is a Muslim country.
I talked about this with the Prime Minister, and he promised his support. I believe that Russia should be represented in the Islamic Conference Organisation, if only as an observer at the initial phase. I hope that once your country takes over the role of presiding this organisation, we will able to count on the support of your government on this issue.
August 5, 2003, Kuala Lumpur