ASEAN Day Reception

The Embassy of Malaysia in the Russian Federation took part in the ASEAN Day reception held at the GlavUpDK Cultural Centre on Thursday, 6 August 2009 as part of the activities to commemorate ASEAN's 42nd anniversary. Headed by the Ambassador, Dato' Mohamad Khalis and Datin Saripah, the staff Malaysian Embassy smartly adorned colourful national costumes, much to the admiration of guests both Russian and ASEAN alike.

The Indonesian Ambassador, HE Hamid Awaludin, on behalf of the other ASEAN Ambassadors in his capacity as the Chairman of the ASEAN-Moscow Committee welcomed the Deputy Foreign Minister and guests to the event. He remarked that relations with Russia has continued to strengthened over the years in the various fields of cooperation. The recent signing for the establishment of the ASEAN Centre in Moscow as well as the possible convening of the 2nd ASEAN-Russia Summit are important milestons towards further developing ASEAN-Russia relations in the future.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in his reply speech concured with the Indonesian Ambassador regarding the state of bilateral affairs between Russia and ASEAN. However, Russia, he indicated hoped to see more developments in relations particularly in the spheres of economic development, energy, emergency relief and transnational crime.

Embassy staff poses at the Malaysian corner after the event 

As part of the celebration, guests were entertained by a selection of ASEAN cultural performances from Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam for the first hour of the reception. The cultural event was closed by a video presentation on ASEAN Unity that beautifully captured the philosophy of unity in diversity which has been one of ASEAN's main strength over the years.

The second part of the event was the food festival where by all ASEAN countries presented a plethora of traditional delicacies that easily enticed the tastebuds of the guest. The Malaysian corner at the food festival offered a delicious selection of chicken and beef satay, fried seafood noodles, currypuffs and Seri Muka for the incoming guests.