MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2019) Moscow and Kuala Lumpur are discussing the provision of loans to Malaysia for the purchase of Russian civil aircraft, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and Malaysian Economy Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said on Wednesday.
According to Manturov, they talked about helicopters, Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft, SSJ100 and MC-21 passenger airliners. The head of the Malaysian Economy Ministry welcomed the Russian side's proposal not only in terms of supplies, but also for the purpose of technology transfer. According to Azmin Ali, Malaysia is now in a difficult financial situation and the country has a huge government debt, making it necessary to deal with budget consolidation.
"Mr. Azmin Ali just mentioned the issue of the provision of our state loans for the supply of Russian equipment, in particular, aviation. We are working on it in the government. I hope that we resolve it positively by agreeing on all the conditions with Malaysian partners," Manturov said, noting that it was either a state loan or export financing, however, an official request from the Malaysian Finance Ministry has not yet been received.
He added that at the Malaysian LIMA air show earlier in March, Russian experts discussed the possible production of composite components for the MC-21 aircraft in the southeast Asian country in order to have greater interests and preferences in terms of supplying these aircraft to the region.
"This is a confirmation that our Malaysian partners are interested in developing industrial cooperation specifically in the aviation and space industries. And what Mr. Azmin Ali already said today regarding the interaction between our educational institutions, our fundamental applied institutions in order to create a full-fledged, high-quality aviation industry in the country, of course, it will take time, but if our partners are interested in this and will be actively involved in it, we will do our best to cooperate," Manturov said.
Malaysia is one of Russia's main and most promising trading partners in the region of Southeast Asia. The aviation, shipping, chemical and agricultural industries, as well as IT, are among the priority sectors of cooperation.
