Head of a Malaysian think-tank keen to cooperate with partners from Kazakhstan

ASTANA-KUALA LUMPUR. KAZINFORM - On September 10, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Malaysia Daniyar Sarekenov met with Chairman and Chief Executive of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia (ISIS Malaysia) Tan Sri Rastam Mohd Isa, Kazinform has learnt from the press service of the Kazakh MFA.

ISIS Malaysia is well recognized as one of the leading think-tanks in Malaysia and entire ASEAN area. The Institute has a diverse research focus which includes economics, foreign policy, security studies, nation-building, social policy, technology, innovation and environmental studies. The Kazakh diplomat briefed his counterpart on the main foreign policy priorities of Astana, as well as the major socio-economic and domestic initiatives put forward over the last few years by the national leadership. Daniyar Sarekenov handed over to Tan Sri Rastam Mohd Isa a number of conceptual documents published in the Malay language, namely "Kazakhstan's Way - 2050", "NurlyZhol - The Path to the Future" and "100 Concrete Steps to Implement the Five Institutional Reforms". The Ambassador accentuated that those strategies launched by President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev had highlighted a main road towards building a truly modern, efficient and prosperous nation. Chairman of ISIS Malaysia positively evaluated the current trends in Kazakhstan, its increasing role in the international developments, especially in the Eurasian and pan-Asian areas. Tan Sri Rastam Mohd Isa placed a special emphasis on Astana's important foreign policy initiatives including the CICA process. The Malaysian expert also gave an in-depth overview of Kuala Lumpur's main priorities in the global arena, while underlining the key importance of further consolidating the ASEAN integration. The exchange of views followed on the current developments in the socio-political lives of their respective countries, with taking into account the obvious similarities in terms of ethnic and religious diversity of Kazakhstan and Malaysia. Concluding the meeting, the two sides reached a common understanding on the expediency of establishing the direct ties between ISIS Malaysia and leading analytical institutions of Kazakhstan as the way to provide an intellectual support to Kazakhstan-Malaysia bilateral and multilateral relations, to share approaches towards the topical global and regional problems, and to find joint solutions in overcoming them.