On Wednesday, April 9, a working meeting was held at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University with representatives from the University of Malaya, one of the oldest and leading universities in Malaysia. In a videoconference format, the parties discussed the details of organizing the Russia-Malaysia Raw Materials Forum.
The idea of creating a permanent platform for dialogue between the two countries on the issues of the mineral resources sector was born at the walls of the oldest technical university in Russia during the visit of the Minister of Higher Education of Malaysia, Zambry Abdul Kadir, to our country in October of the previous year. At that time, the third meeting of the Joint Russia-Malaysia Commission on Economic, Scientific-Technical, and Cultural Cooperation took place at the university. During that meeting, the rector of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, Vladimir Litvinenko, proposed the idea of establishing a parallel channel for cooperation.
Malaysia is rapidly developing today. It ranks 31st in the world by Gross Domestic Product, ahead of countries such as Switzerland, Austria, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. The country's export structure is dominated by electronics, oil, petroleum products, and natural gas. Malaysia ranks second in Southeast Asia in oil reserves. The country also has deposits of other minerals, including tin, coal, bauxite, iron ore, titanium ore, manganese, tungsten, and rare-earth elements.
«Russia and Malaysia share an understanding of the importance of rational use of abundant natural resources, as well as the improvement of technologies for their extraction and processing. Both of our universities are directly involved in this work.
We will create a strong joint platform where representatives from business and government bodies from both countries will discuss pressing issues related to mineral extraction and the improvement of processing technologies. There is also an idea to conduct joint online seminars and working meetings between the sessions of the conference» – said the rector of the University of Malaya, Professor Nur Azwan bin Abu Osman.
The upcoming joint plans include a visit by the Russian delegation to Kuala Lumpur at the end of this month to participate in a working group on education, science, and technology, the preparation of the "roadmap" for the two-day first session of the forum, and the overall development of the project. The working group will be headed by Vyacheslav Zyrin, Director of the Association of Mining Engineers of Russia.
In October, the Russian government officials of the highest level from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Industry and Trade, heads of state corporations, and rectors of several universities from the Consortium of Universities for the Mineral and Raw Materials Complex "Nedra" will attend the forum in the Malaysian capital. The overall supervision of the project from the Russian side will be taken over by one of the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Russian Federation. The Malaysian side will also gather an equally distinguished delegation.
«We are not talking about a one-time event, but about the creation of a serious, permanent mechanism for interstate relations on all issues of the mineral and raw materials complex. The main condition for dialogue is mutual trust. Today, we can confidently say that it already exists, both in the relations between our two universities and between our countries as a whole. This trust is based on a shared understanding of the development vector in three key areas: resources, science, and education.
The discussion will focus on developing recommendations in the regulation of the mineral and raw materials complex, generating ideas for mutually beneficial scientific, educational, and investment projects, and facilitating their implementation.
The first session of the Raw Materials Dialogue will take place in Kuala Lumpur, and next year we will be happy to host our guests at our university. Such meetings will become the culmination of the everyday work that has already begun» – said Professor Vladimir Litvinenko.
It is worth noting that Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has extensive experience in organizing communication projects of this kind. In 2006, together with the Freiberg Mining Academy, it organized the Russian-German Raw Materials Forum. Soon after, the Russian-British Raw Materials Dialogue was established. These platforms have become effective tools for facilitating the exchange of technologies, academic cooperation, and developing an agenda on the regulation of the mineral and raw materials complex.