Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is on a four-day official visit to Kazakhstan, yesterday said Malaysia would be implementing five signature projects to assist the Central Asian republic, as requested by its top leaders.

The prime minister said the signature projects would be Islamic banking, oil and gas, cattle breeding, electricity generation and a landmark hotel reflecting Malaysian architecture and culture in Kazakhstan’s capital.

He said that at a meeting with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev  and Prime Minister Karim Massimov, the two leaders had asked Malaysia to identify landmark projects to pave the way for the involvement and cooperation of various sectors in both countries.

“Among the projects is Islamic banking whereby in principle, they have agreed that we invest in an Islamic bank in Kazakhstan, besides providing training for its people in this field,” he told Malaysian journalists covering his visit here, yesterday.

Najib said he welcomed the Kazakhstan leaders’ proposal and this would soon be followed up with possibly determining the financial institutions in Malaysia which would invest in Islamic banking in Kazakhstan.

Najib said the Kazakhstan government was clearly keen on finding ways to expand bilateral relations between the two countries covering areas that had not been explored and ventured in by both countries.

“This is considering the existing potential which has not been fully realised,” he said and quoted statistics which showed that although the bilateral trade worth US$30 million (RM90 million) in 2009 rose to over US$100 million (RM300 million) in 2010, it was still low and needed to be increased.

Source : The Borneo Post