MALAYSIA WILL ASSIST KAZAKHSTAN WITH FIVE SIGNATURE PROJECTS

From Mohd Nasir Yusof

ASTANA (Kazakhstan), June 6 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak who is on a four-day official visit to Kazakhstan, said Monday that
Malaysia would be implementing five signature projects to assist the Central
Asian republic, as requested by its top leaders.

The prime minister said the signature projects would be Islamic banking, oil
and gas, cattle breeding, electricity generation and a landmark hotel reflecting
Malaysian architecture and culture in Kazakhstan's capital.

He said that at a meeting with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev
and Prime Minister Karim Massimov, the two leaders had asked Malaysia to
identify landmark projects to pave the way for the involvement and cooperation
of various sectors in both countries.

"Among the projects is Islamic banking whereby in principle, they have
agreed that we invest in an Islamic bank in Kazakhstan, besides providing
training for its people in this field," he told Malaysian journalists covering
his visit here, Monday.

Najib said he welcomed the Kazakhstan leaders' proposal and this would soon
be followed up with possibly determining the financial institutions in Malaysia
which would invest in Islamic banking in Kazakhstan.

Najib said the Kazakhstan government was clearly keen on finding ways to
expand bilateral relations between the two countries covering areas that had not
been explored and ventured in by both countries.

"This is considering the existing potential which has not been fully
realised," he said and quoted statistics which showed that although the
bilateral trade worth US$30 million (RM90 million) in 2009 rose to over US$100
million (RM300 million) in 2010, it was still low and needed to be increased.

In the gas and oil sector, Najib said, Kazakhstan had in principle, wanted
Petronas to invest here while Kazakhstan's oil companies should be able to
invest along with Petronas in other countries.

"As for the agriculture sector, today we have seen the signing of a
memorandum of understanding between a Malaysian company and a Kazakhstan company
MoU) to carry out cattle breeding here, and the products to be brought to
Malaysia in making it a halal hub where the meat will be exported to other
countries as well as for domestic consumption."

On electricity generation, Najib said a company in the Genting Group had
begun discussions to be an independent power producer (IPP), generating 200
megawatts of electricity, here.