NAJIB’S VISIT PAVES WAY FOR MALAYSIA'S SERIOUS COMMITMENT IN KAZAKHSTAN

By Mohd Nasir Yusoff

ASTANA (Kazakhstan), June 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s recent visit to Kazakhstan is seen as likely to kickstart many aspects of fruitful relations which require serious commitment in this Central Asian country.

Najib has paved the way for Malaysia's active participation in Kazakhstan’s economy and development, especially now that eight agreements have been signed during the prime minister’s four-day presence here.

The inclusion of five Cabinet ministers -- Anifah Aman (Foreign Affairs), Mustapa Mohamed (International Trade and Industry), Kong Cho Ha (Transport), Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (Women, Family and Community Development) and Shaziman Abu Mansor (Works) -- in his delegation reflected the high degree of seriousness Malaysia is giving to the bilateral relations.

This prompted Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev to say outright that his country of 16 million people attached great importance to the visit, to Najib as a good friend of Kazakhstan and to Malaysians, especially investors and entrepreneurs, as partners in charting his country’s further growth.

The fact that President Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Karim Massimov had personally requested Malaysia to immediately kick off the five identified signature projects to lead the way forward in trade and economic cooperation between the two countries showed nothing less than the high regard they have for Malaysia.

The five projects are in wide-ranging areas of oil and gas, Islamic banking and finance, electric power generation, cattle rearing and feedlot, and construction of a Malaysian hotel with truly Malaysian architecture and designs in this sprawling capital city that has been modelled after Putrajaya, Malaysia's modern federal administrative centre.

Najib said that to realise the projects, he has directed Malaysian national oil corporation Petronas to come to Kazakhstan for further discussion, including on the possibility of having selected Kazakhstan petroleum companies tag along in the Petronas ventures and investments overseas. For power generation, the CIMB Group has already committed an investment of US$50 million (RM151 million).

A Malaysian company has also signed an agreement with a local company to invest in and work on 50,000 hectares of land, of which 30,000 hectares are for cattle rearing and the remaining 20,000 hectares for developing feedlots, while for the construction of the hotel, Najib will select the most capable company from Malaysia.

Another agreement signed during the seventh World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), a Malaysian initiative, held here from June 7 to 9, involved Amanah Raya Berhad in cooperation with a local company to manage a Haj Fund similar to Tabung Haji (Pilgrims' Fund) to enable Kazakhstan Muslims to save to perform the haj(pilgrimage).

Mustapa Mohamed has been given the task of coordinator for all Malaysian projects and investments in Kazakhstan while the Kazakhstan deputy prime minister will be the referral person over here. Their appointments are meant to ensure smooth implementation of the projects and prevent any possible glitches.

One person who has all the reasons to be particularly happy with the success of the visit is Kazakhstan Ambassador to Malaysia Beibut B. Atamkulov who, however, is ready to shoulder the heavy workload ahead to ensure all the projects agreed upon would be realised and further cement the already strong and excellent bilateral ties.

"Upon my return to Kuala Lumpur, I know I have many heavy tasks ahead. But, I am all for it and will assist to the best of my ability," he told Bernama Saturday, adding that he would also love to see more direct flights between Kazakhstan and Malaysia to enable closer people-to-people relations.

He said that in promoting bilateral ties, the media too had a big role to play in disseminating more information about both countries, especially about the many similarities between Kazakhstan and Malaysia and each other’s uniqueness, that could enrich the knowledge of the peoples of both countries.

Atamkulov believes that his country and Malaysia have a bright future to look forward to and work hard not only for the benefit of both countries but also for the countries in the Central Asian region and in Asean, including as gateways to business and trade.

Mustapa also said that Kazakhstan provided Malaysian investors and
businessmen good opportunities to reach out overseas, especially when Kazakhstan was experiencing a very good seven per cent growth rate per annum and its per capita income was US$13,000 (about RM39,000).

"These facts provide Malaysian exporters and businesses a huge ready market, what more with Malaysia enjoying a good ‘brand name’ here apart of course from Kazakhstan’s offer to us to become a gateway to the (Asean) regional market of some 170 million population,” he said.

"The high regard for Malaysia and the respect President Nazarbayev and his government have for our prime minister are indeed heartwarming and it’s only fair that we make all efforts to keep the Malaysian flag flying high,” he said.
-- BERNAMA