On 16 September 2011, H.E. Dato’ Zainol Abidin Omar, Ambassador of Malaysia to the Russian Federation and Y.Bhg. Datin Rusamelia Rusland hosted a reception on the occasion of the 54th Year of Malaysia’s Independence at Hotel Baltschug Kempinski, Moscow. H.E. Mikhail Leonidovich BOGDANOV, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation attended the reception as the Guest of Honour and the representative of the Government of the Russian Federation. H.E. Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang, the President of the Senate of Malaysia and several other Malaysian Senators also attended the reception. H.E.Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang and his delegation were on official visit to the Russian Federation under the invitation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
Around 500 people attended the event which includes Russian government officials from various Departments and Ministries, Diplomatic Corps, academicians and members of think tanks. Other guests consist of corporate and business people, Malaysian student representatives and Malaysian citizens residing in the Russian Federation.
H.E. Dato’ Zainol Abidin Omar in his remarks touched on successful relationship between Malaysia and the Russian Federation for 44 years since the establishment of the diplomatic ties between two countries. H.E. Ambassador Dato’ Zainol informed that the bilateral relations between Malaysia and the Russian Federation had shown an encouraging achievement namely in political, economic, defense and socio-cultural spheres. Besides that Malaysia also acknowledged the involvement of the Russian Federation in multilateral levels especially in ASEAN. In connection with the 15th Anniversary of ASEAN – Russia Dialogue Partnership, H.E. Dato’ Zainol Abidin Omar highlighted some areas of cooperation between ASEAN and the Russian Federation and welcomed Russia participation for the first time in the East Asia Summit (EAS) in November this year.
During the reception the guests were entertained with Malaysian traditional dances entitled “One Malaysia” performed by dancers from Yayasan Warisan Johor. Guests were also invited to visit a small art exhibition painted by Russian children especially for the 54th celebration of Malaysia’s Independence depicting stories from Malaysia’s fairytales. On this special occasion our guests were also treated to various types of Malaysian cuisines such as chicken satay, nasi impit, fried mee hoon, kueh bakar and kueh lapis.
