Lavrov meets with top Malaysian diplomat in Kuala Lumpur

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan have held talks in Kuala Lumpur

Before the meeting, Lavrov wrote an entry in the guest of honor book. "In Russian and in English," the Russian minister said.

At the beginning of the meeting, Hasan asked Lavrov if he had been to Malaysia before.

"Yes, I have. It is not the first time. I have been to Malaysia, but it was a long time ago. Maybe, about 10 years ago," the Russian foreign minister said in response.

For his part, Lavrov reminded Hassan of the invitation to visit Russia, which they "discussed yesterday and the day before yesterday."

After the talks, the two foreign ministers exchanged notes on establishing cooperation between the Russian Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Academy and the Malaysian Foreign Ministry's Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations.

In addition, Lavrov and Hasan exchanged gifts. The Malaysian foreign minister gave his Russian counterpart a metallic piece showing the country's national flower, while Lavrov presented an engraving with the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

On Saturday, Lavrov arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Laos, where he held some bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, as well as China and Turkey. In addition, he attended ministerial meetings in the Russia-ASEAN format, as well as the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Security Forum (ARF).