PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will meet his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok in a few weeks to discuss economic cooperation and to foster Malaysia-Russia bilateral relations.

“A few weeks from now, I will go to Vladivostok in Russia to accept President Putin’s invitation to discuss economic cooperation, positioning us as a country that defends our independent position with no feelings of hostility with anyone,“ he said.

He said this at the launch of GXBank headquarters and its centre of excellence here today.

On July 28, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a courtesy call on Anwar at Seri Perdana, Putrajaya, and among other things, discussed Malaysia’s wish to join the intergovernmental organisation BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) with Russia as BRICS chairman.

In the nearly hour-long meeting, Anwar and Lavrov also discussed efforts to strengthen Malaysia-Russia relations and expand cooperation in various sectors including trade, investment, security, defence, higher education, science and technology, tourism and culture.