MOSCOW - Malaysia is shopping for more Russian aircraft and military equipment and hopes to boost overall trade with Russia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday at talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We are aware of Russian advances in many areas including aviation and would like to cooperate with you in this field," Mahathir said at the Kremlin meeting. After the talks, he added, "We also discussed the possibility of purchasing some military equipment from Russia."
Malaysia's military uses several Russian-made fighter jets and tanks, and Mahathir is to visit a flight research center outside Moscow during this visit to see a Sukhoi 30MKM fighter jet that is competing for a Malaysian contract.
Contracts to buy Russian short- and medium-range air defenses, small naval vessels and multiple rocket launchers are likely to be discussed during Mahathir's trip, the Interfax news agency reported.
"We have quite good cooperation with Malaysia in the military and defense areas," Putin said.
Mahathir said current annual trade turnover between the countries of dlrs 300 million was too low given their potential. "We would like to sell more to Russia, including palm oil," he said.
Putin said the two discussed cooperation in using mobile missile launchers, since Malaysia's location near the equator makes it convenient for space launches.
Mahathir toured Russia's weather and environmental monitoring agency headquarters Thursday morning and was to address a technology forum later in the day.
He and Putin also discussed fighting international terrorism and said they hold similar views.
Mahathir originally had been scheduled to visit in September but the trip was postponed after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Robert Mueller, the director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, was in Malaysia on Thursday to discuss the extradition of terror suspects during a tour of Southeast Asia, where dozens of Islamic militants have been arrested in an alleged plot to blow up U.S. targets.