Russia keen to sell planes to Malaysia: Mahathir
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to sell its airplanes to Malaysia, during a bilateral meeting on Tuesday evening.
"He raised (the) possibility of selling their airplanes to us. That depends on how much money that we have," Tun Dr Mahathir told reporters on the sidelines of the Asean Summit.
At the meeting with Mr Putin, Malaysian media reported that Dr Mahathir had asked Russia for help in maintaining the country's fleet of Russian jet fighters.
Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu revealed in July that only four of the 28 Russian fighter jets owned by the Malaysian air force were able to take to the skies due to maintenance issues.
During the meeting with Russia, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia needed "to learn more (about) how to maintain and repair the aircraft".
BERNAMA
Putin, Abe agree to speed up peace treaty talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed yesterday to step up the pace of talks to end a decades-old territorial dispute, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia and Japan have still not formally ended their World War II hostilities because of the stand-off, which has held back economic ties between the two near-neighbours.
Mr Putin said last week that Mr Abe told him Tokyo could not immediately sign a peace treaty with Moscow without first resolving their territorial dispute.
Russia and Japan have been in dispute for seven decades over island territories captured by Soviet troops in the last days of World War II. As a result, they have still not formally ended hostilities.
REUTERS
China, Canada vow to press ahead with FTA
China and Canada have pledged to press ahead with negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
The pledge came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held the third annual dialogue with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.
"We have noticed that Canada has made clarification on a new trade agreement reached among the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA), saying that the agreement will not affect Canada's decision on FTA agreements with other countries," Mr Li told Mr Trudeau. "China stands ready to continue to promote the FTA negotiations with Canada on the basis of mutual respect, and in a flexible and pragmatic way."
Mr Trudeau told Mr Li that Canada is willing to work with China to push forward the FTA talks, adding that his country will not be influenced by the position of other countries.
XINHUA
